On our way down to Adelaide today and as a lot of you know what the down track is like on the SE freeway with the now speed limit of 60kph and they must stay in the left hand lane for vehicles of 5 & more axles. As usual going through the Heyson tunnel there was a fully laden B double in the middle lane overtaking another truck, I thought, "here is another cowboy" and then this article below was in the paper. Luckily they have cameras in the tunnel and also along the SE freeway so with luck the truck driver today will get his just deserts. We were travelling at the prescribed 90kph as we pulled out to pass the passing truck.
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A VICTORIAN truck driver was fined $8500 for a critical breach of driver fatigue laws as he drove across the country.
Terrence Michael Edwards, 54, was convicted in the Ceduna Magistrates Court after he was detected by one of the network of Safe-T-Cam as he travelled from Brooklyn, Victoria, to Welshpool, Western Australia on March 1 this year.
Transport Department spokesman Trent Rusby said Edwards was convicted of one count of exceeding maximum allowable work hours in a 24 hour period and fined a total of $8,500 plus costs for the critical risk breach.
"The court heard he recorded 18 hours work in a 24 hour period, six hours more than the legislated maximum of 12 hours," she said.
"The prosecution reiterated the seriousness of fatigued drivers, particularly heavy vehicle drivers, on the roads.
Safe-T-Cam is a network of strategically placed cameras on major arterial roads that record, verify and store information on heavy vehicle movements in South Australia and New South Wales.
"The cameras assist in recording information including failure to take required rest breaks as specified by heavy vehicle driver fatigue regulations, speeding between any two or more Safe-T-Cam sites, attempts to avoid detection at any Safe-T-Cam site and driving a vehicle or combination that is unregistered and or uninsured,"he said.
Queen of the Banal & OT chatter and proud of it. If it offends you then tough titty titty bang bang.
Now I wonder if driving a bus converted to a motorhome comes under the same rules, the vehicle is driven on a heavy rigid licence but not for comercial gain, so do the fatigue rules still apply?
