Last week’s Sydney overheight truck incident statistics has encouraged the ATA to renew its call for truck heights to increase in Australia
Following the NSW government’s statistics revealing that overheight truck incidents in Sydney have dropped in the back half of 2023, the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has called to increase truck heights to 4.6m.
In the ATA’s Friday Facts newsletter, ATA Chair David Smith says the height of trucks should be increased from the current general access height limit of 4.3m.
The National Transport Commission’s (NTC) review of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) resulted in looking at increasing the height limit to 4.6m, with concerns raised about the risk that trucks would strike overhead hazards.
With four overheight incidents reported in Sydney in November 2023 compared to 25 in November last year, Smith is using these statistics to renew the call for truck heights increasing.
Smith says the success of the collaboration showed that the risk of overheight trucks could be managed successfully.
“Increasing the height of trucks to 4.6m would remove the need for operators to apply for some 1,143 permits a year. It would save the industry $95,000 per year in permit fees and deliver time savings worth $91,000 per year,” Smith says.
“The impressive results achieved through the taskforce show that the safety concerns about 4.6m trucks can be managed.”
Road Freight NSW CEO Simon O’Hara says the reduction in incidents is due to the strong collaboration between the NHVR, Transport for NSW, police, the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) and industry through the overheight truck taskforce.
“I want to thank Minister Graham for bringing the taskforce together. We have a terrific relationship with this government, and these statistics show the industry has stepped up and heard the call to do its bit,” O’Hara says.