Authorities have launched a fleet of hi-tech camera vehicles to keep a sharp eye on any wayward truckies, in a move to improve heavy vehicle compliance with various safety, route and vehicle regulations across Australia.
Forty camera devices are on the road under the control of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) the body that administers the national laws controlling the nation’s heavy vehicles –120,000 prime movers and 1.05 million registered heavy vehicle units (including mobile cranes, trailers and agricultural vehicles).
There have been multiple incidents of heavy vehicle collisions with other road users, including bike riders in recent years.
Most of those riders lost their lives, as you would expect. The surprise has been how often the drivers simply kept on driving, denying knowledge of the incident while surreptitiously repairing vehicles.
Thanks to work by police officers, some of these offenders have been brought to justice.
NHVR believes that the greater observation will encourage safer driving practices on heavy vehicle routes and freight networks.
Thirty-two of the cameras will be mounted on vehicles, eight on trailers and one camera is a drone.
All cameras have Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), which automatically records the vehicle number plate and checks vehicle legitimacy, identifies high-risk operators and detects and interrupts potentially high-risk behaviour and unsafe practices by heavy vehicles.
Fines will not be issued directly from the cameras, but once offences are identified vehicles can be intercepted further down the road.
All footage is retained for use in developing and refining practices and policies for improving truck safety.
NVHR Acting Chief Operations Officer Michelle Tayler says that because the cameras are mobile they can be moved and used in different locations. Cameras will be located within the busiest freight routes to maximise heavy vehicle monitoring capability.
“We are committed to continuously investing in cutting-edge technology such as mobile ANPR cameras, that take us a step forward in making roads safer for all drivers.”
'And bike riders', she could have said.
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