Bird’s Eye View

BIRDS EYE VIEW by Carol Messenger

Main Roads WA has instigated a new “Road Train Signage Trial” that runs from October 2022 through to 30 June 2023. Participation in the trial is completely voluntary and operators who choose to register to be involved can pick and choose which (if any) of their fleet will display the new signage.

Currently, both Centurion Transport and QUBE Bulk have agreed to fit the new signs to some of their vehicles so they should soon start to become more visible on the roads. Other operators wanting to participate will need to apply to HVS for an approval letter.

The signs are designated to show the physical makeup of the truck and towing combination and indicate its total length.

The theory behind the idea is to try and educate Joe Blow average citizen by letting him know exactly what he has in front of him and exactly how long the vehicle is. Many car drivers just have no idea of the lengths of some of the truck and trailer combinations and it is easy to get in trouble when they run out of space when passing one of the longer vehicles. Forearmed is forewarned if you will.

To me this seems to be a common sense move by Main Roads but there a large number of operators who are vehemently set against it.

I think that everyone would agree that ‘any’ education for other road users is a good thing. Letting them know what they are about to pass and just how much room they are going to need to achieve that safely will hopefully reduce the number of accidents. Many car drivers have absolutely no idea how long a ‘road train’ or ‘long vehicle’ is (or even what the difference is) until they are half way around it and they get that ‘Oh Shite’ moment.

For operators, the major concerns seems to be the need (and cost) to purchase a number of new signs and the fiddle farting around to change them as they change configurations, breaking down or adding trailers to part of their journey and the ever present risk of receiving an infringement for displaying the wrong sign.

There is also the view that the back of the truck is beginning to look like a mobile billboard and where/how are you supposed to mount these new signs.

To be honest, I am not in favour of a number of things that Main Roads WA does but this idea does appear (to me) to have a lot of merit.

Sure it is going to be a bit extra fiddling around to make sure you have the correct signs and that they are displayed at the right time. Maybe they could be manufactured in the ‘flip style’ similar to

the DG flip kits and where you could have several options according to where you are in your journey. But if this educates the public and helps to prevent accidents then it has to be a good thing.

If you have any thoughts on the trial or suggestions on how the signage can be improved then Main Roads encourages you to provide feedback via www. mysaytransport.wa.gov.au or by sending an email to hvs@mainroads.wa.gov.au

If the trial is successful – not quite sure what that means – then Main Roads will implement this new signage strategy for all Class 2 and 3 RAV’s in WA. However interstate operators will not be required to comply and will continue to use the ‘road train’ and ‘long vehicle’ signs that they currently use.