As part of a trial starting this month, two NSW inspection stations will be open to truckies outside of usual operating hours, unstaffed, so they can check their vehicle mass.
The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) will open the Halfway Creek Heavy Vehicle Safety Station (HVSS), on the Pacific Highway, 32 kilometres south of Grafton, and the Daroobalgie HVSS near Parkes (both the north and southbound sites).
NHVR chief operations officer Paul Salvati said the pilot is being launched in response to industry feedback, aiming to assist with road safety and bolster self-compliance within the heavy vehicle industry.
“Effective from the beginning of April, two weighbridges will be open outside of operational hours on key transportation routes in NSW, allowing drivers to check the weight of their vehicle and ensure their movements are safe and efficient,” Salvati said.
“These sites are being offered on a trial basis to complement existing public weighing facilities and we will be closely monitoring this pilot, to evaluate its effectiveness.
“With the weighbridges being open while unstaffed, we’d like to remind drivers to utilise these sites in a safe and productive manner.
“Throughout this pilot, we want to see these sites remain free from vandalism and damage – in the past, incidents like these resulted in many weighbridges being gated across NSW.”
The NHVR says although drivers still need to conduct a pre-departure inspection of their vehicle to ensure it’s roadworthy, the load is restrained correctly and compliant with mass limits, it believes drivers would benefit from seeing their vehicle mass to support ongoing compliance.
The regulator says that with the increase in adoption of On-Board Mass (OBM) technology on vehicles, it regularly sees drivers validating the OBM when stopped at a safety station weighbridge.
“We want to encourage heavy vehicle drivers and operators to utilise these designated weighbridge facilities to assist in their compliance,” Salvati said.
“Overloading a vehicle not only jeopardises road infrastructure but also poses significant safety risks to motorists.
“All parties in the supply chain have a primary duty to ensure the safety of their transport activities.”