A safety truck is taking to the road to bring instruction designed to avoid truck crashes on the alternate Picton to Christchurch route.
it has become the main highway since the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake closed State Highway 1 through Kaikoura.
But there have been 38 truck crashes on the route between November 2016 and the end of March this year. They include ten rollovers and five crashes causing death and/or serious injury.
So a Safety MAN road safety truck has been launched, supported by the NZ Transport Agency and the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) alliance.
The safety truck with its pop-out classroom features audio-visual and hands-on resources for truck drivers, students and communities affected by the increased traffic on the route, NZ Trucking Association chief executive officer David Boyce says.
The association will deliver the education programmes.
Winding, challenging and narrow in parts, the alternate route includes an alpine pass and one-way bridges, which has put truck operators and drivers under additional stress, particularly with additional delays from multiple work sites as part of the NZTA’s ongoing improvement programme.
“The longer driving hours on this route cause fatigue for drivers – a key factor in crashes and rollovers,” NCTIR journey manager Tresca Forrester says.
“With up to four times more traffic on these highways than pre-earthquake, many communities along the way have become concerned about sharing the road with heavy vehicles and how that affects the way they and their families live and use this route.”
The safety truck was provided by Heavy Trucks. “There are a lot of (safety) features on this truck but they won’t help you if another road user is not leaving a safe following distance or if the driver is tired or fatigued,” dealer principal Adam Wright says.
The ‘Healthy Truck Driver Programme’ is targeted at key operators and companies that travel the alternate route, identifying symptoms and causes of common truck driver health issues, such as fatigue.
The ‘Share the Road with Big Trucks Programme’ is targeted for the rest of this year at communities and schools along and around the alternate route and in Kaikoura, to educate children and communities about safe behaviour around trucks.
The safety truck is part of a wider Alternate Route Truck Crashes/Rollover Prevention Plan developed by a South Island team.
Another is a TruckR app which would provide safety and journey information to truck drivers, regulatory operations and two-way conversations about road improvements.
Speed limits have been reviewed and the NZTA’s $60 million improvement package includes guardrails, slow vehicle bays, pull over areas and road widening.
Visit roadsafetytruck.co.nz for more.
