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‘WA industry was blindsided’ by new road train signage

The decision by Main Roads WA to force operators to transition to new road train signage has come as a complete surprise to the industry, according to president of the Livestock and Rural Transport Association of WA (LRTAWA), Darran Bairstow.

Operators in the west will have to foot the bill for new pictorial length signage for vehicle combinations ranging from 22 to 60 metres in length.

They will replace existing ‘ROAD TRAIN’ or ‘LONG VEHICLE’ signs, with WA operators given until January 1, 2025 to make the switch.

The new signage will be displayed on the rear of restricted access vehicles, including road trains and other heavy vehicles.

WA operators have six months to transition to the new signage. Image: Main Roads WA

These signs show the number of trailers and the total length of the vehicle, depicted with an equivalent number of car lengths.

For Darran, the move to new signage will be a costly one. He’s a second generation truckie who has been operating his agricultural transport business Flexitrans, for the past 22 years, alongside his wife Carmen Bairstow.

“Just with my 36 trailers and dollies, it will cost me about $18,000 to switch over to the new signs, so I’d have to turn over $200,000 in my business just to cover that cost,” he said.

“I have a brand new set of three trailers I just took delivery of, with three horizontal flip signs – so that’s about $1500 worth of signs that are now redundant.”

Despite heading up one of WA’s key transport associations, Darran says the first he heard of the transition to new road train signage was after seeing a story shared on the Big Rigs Facebook page.

“It would have been nice to have a bit of a heads up or a consultation. We didn’t get any of that. Big Rigs knew about the change before most of WA knew about it,” he revealed. 

“There was no consultation with the industry, apart from a survey from Main Roads WA that came out about two years ago. I replied saying I wasn’t in favour of the new signs.

“I haven’t spoken with anyone in the industry who is in favour of the move. For me, the biggest thing is the cost and the second is the logistics of it. I have friends who run 90-100 trailers, so at about $500 a sign, you can imagine how much this is going to cost them.”

As well as having to pay for new signs, Darran says some companies will also need to make changes to their equipment to accommodate the new requirements.

“At the LRTAWA, we’re estimating this will cost the WA transport industry $10-20 million. If this was to be extended to the whole of Australia, you could be looking at over $1 billion.”

A press release issued by Main Roads WA stated the new signs were aimed at giving other road users a clearer idea of the length of the vehicle in front of them – before attempting to overtake.

While Darran says the LRTAWA supports initiatives that improve road safety, he thinks this time Main Roads WA has got it wrong.

“I am sceptical about the safety benefits of this change, when a motorist is expected to comprehend a message 8cm high on the back of truck that is travelling at 100km/h,” he said.

“The lettering is smaller than the existing signs. I’m concerned this is likely to cause more distraction when drivers should be concentrating on the road!

“If you went through any OH&S data, it shows that signage is a poor way of conveying safety. Education is the only way to get a satisfactory outcome.

“Sometimes what seems like a good idea isn’t so good in its practical application – and this is one of those.”

Darren is calling for Main Roads WA to scrap the new road train signage in favour of education to help other road users better understand the length of road trains.

“It’s the people on the coalface who are dealing with this and paying for it. I’m hopeful that enough pressure is put on the ministers for safety and transport, so that we could at least get some common sense put into this,” he said.

WA is currently the only state to be implementing the new signage.

For interstate heavy vehicle operators heading into WA, there will be no change. They will be able to continue using existing warning signage, which will still be recognised and accepted across the state.

Main Roads WA was contacted for comment but did not respond.

5 Comments

  1. Colin Rae WY not have a TV add for everyone showing road trains and call it mixing with monsters paid for by main roads and state government?

  2. I cannot believe that the WA transport minister could be so stupid to even think about introducing the new sinage for road trains in that state. Apart from the obvious cost to the industry has he thought about the fact that drivers will be concentrating on how many car lengths the road train is they are attempting to overtake they will loose concentration on what the are doing, because it is there in very small pictures for them to see, and to a lot of motorists it won’t mean a thing. A triple trailer road train would need at least 12 different signs for the times when it broken down to different combinations to gain access to various places. If the major transport company’s decided to register their vehicles in another state to avoid this ridiculous cost it would cost the state of WA a lot of revenue. It seams crazy to me that interstate roadtrains need not adhere to the new regulations, do motorists automatically know how many car lengths the combination is. And as we all know transport operators cannot be expected to absorb this cost and it will be passed on down the line to the consumers adding to the increasing cost of living.
    These imbeciles. are not worthy of the title of minister for whatever and the salary they are paid.

  3. Years ago the guys that ran adelide-perth on b triples had flip there signs from road train to long vechicle at border.. so these west austrailan signs wont be recognised in south austraila so you need three or four sets because one trip it be 36m b triple or double train next trip could be 26m b double.

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