Terrie Bradley

 National Secretary

Terrie Bradley: Townsville QLD: (0427-713-712)

 

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Comments from Terrie

24th July 2009  

Real life situation on inadequate parking bays.

On a recent trip from Townsville QLD to Grafton NSW, 2x 20m loads travelling down the coast road, truck 1 has 2 drivers and truck 2 has 1 driver with 14hour TFMS. So they could all travel together, and arrive at destination together, it was decided that truck 1 would travel with truck 2 and drive to the same 14 hours. All the way down the highway the relevant rest breaks were taken at the correct times, both stopped at Childers for tea and it was decided that they had about 1 and a half driving hours left, and intended to stop when that time was up. Neither driver travels this road regularly, so are unfamiliar of any parking bays available. Time was up just as they entered Gympie, by this time it’s 9.30pm, so it was decided to look for somewhere to pull up, but to no avail, there was nowhere for one  truck, let alone two that are oversize. So gingerly they kept travelling, continually looking for somewhere safe to park to sleep, without some clown crashing into them in tier sleep. It was a good hour down the freeway before they came across a roadhouse(not a truckstop), where they could stop to sleep. Meanwhile driver 2 has gone an hour over his legal driving hours! But where do you pull up when there is just no where to STOP? What else can you do in that situation? What are the answers? And why are there NO parking bays suitable for sleeping along the freeway? Why do they build these roads and don’t make rest areas available? All the way down the freeway there are NO parking bays for trucks to have their rest breaks let alone sleep any where safely.

Three very concerned operators.