The NHVR has launched an educational video, in partnership with Transport for NSW and NSW Police, to educate industry on how the agencies work together when responding to overheight truck incidents.
The regulator said the video is also aimed at educating drivers on preventative action they can take to avoid an incident occurring.
There has been an influx of overheight truck incidents in the Sydney metro area, one of the most recent of which occured on May 11, reports the Traffic and Highway Patrol Command of the NSW Police on its Facebook page.
Police allege that the driver of this truck triggered the height sensors (4.4m) indicating the vehicle was over the maximum safe height for the tunnel.
As a result the driver was issued with penalty notice – Disobey clearance/low clearance sign tunnel/bridge etc, with a fine of $4097 and 12 demerit points.
Police say further investigation revealed the heavy vehicle also disobeyed a low clearance sign at the railway overpass in Mascot. The driver was issued with a Court Attendance Notice for the offence of Disobey clearance/low clearance sign tunnel/bridge etc.
Less than a week later more than 14 kilometres of city-bound traffic banked up in Sydney’s north shore after an overheight truck closed the Sydney Harbour Tunnel’s southbound lane for 10 minutes.
Following a number of incidents of trucks failing to comply with warning signs – and in some cases, crashing into bridges and tunnels – state government officials increased the on-the-spot fine from $1888 to $4097, with the courts now able to impose a maximum fine of $5500.
Drivers with overheight vehicles can lose their licence for six months, while penalties have also doubled from six demerit points to 12.
Authorities also have the power to suspend truck registrations for up to six months.
According to the NSW Government, 45 overheight trucks were detected in Sydney Harbour Tunnel in 2022 – almost double the amount from 2021.