Peak body claims slowing down for stationary emergency vehicles puts truck drivers at risk
Road Freight NSW (RFNSW) believes the controversial road law requiring drivers to slow down to 40km/h around stationary emergency vehicles is “doing more harm than good” and is calling on the state government to scrap the trial.
The Slow Down Move Over (SLOMO) law came into effect on September 1, 2018 in NSW and has been designed to improve the safety of emergency workers when they are stopped on the road, also requiring motorists to give way to any person on foot in the immediate area of the emergency vehicle.
The rule has been active in Western Australia since March 2018 and ACT from April 2018, whilst it has been operational in Victoria since July 2017. South Australia introduced a SLOMO law far earlier in 2014 requiring motorists to travel at 25km/h when driving through an emergency service speed zone.
Read more about the SA implementation of SLOMO, here
RFNSW chief executive Simon O’Hara says its members had expressed concerns that the ‘go slow’ rule is posing serious risk to both truck drivers and light-vehicle drivers, particularly on major arterial roads with 100km/h speed limits.
“Our number one priority is always focused on road safety, but this rule is causing real problems for our heavy vehicle drivers,” O’Hara says.
“Forcing a fully-laden truck to hit the brakes and slow down to 40 km/h, regardless of the speed limit, is not only totally impractical but incredibly dangerous.
“RFNSW will always support policies which aim to better protect our brave first-responders, but we’re now increasingly concerned that the ‘go slow’ rule could be doing more harm than good, putting their safety and the safety of truckies and light-vehicle drivers all at risk.
“What’s apparent is that the rule doesn’t factor in the differences between heavy and light vehicles. It would be a perverse outcome if we had a situation where a heavy vehicle was involved in an accident as a result of a light vehicle slowing down quickly to 40km/h, when a truck can’t.
“Our members adhere to safety regulations when they’re out on the roads, but the Government must ensure this rule is equally applied in circumstances where one size simply doesn’t fit all.”
O’Hara says RFNSW has joined the Police Association of NSW and the NRMA in questioning the rule.
“RFNSW is calling on the Government to scrap the current 12-month trial and engage with all stakeholders to come up with a common-sense solution that will protect all road users passing stationary emergency vehicles on our roads,” he adds