THE Australian Caravan Club is working with the National Road Transport
Association to develop a Sharing the Road code of conduct.
NatRoad is the only Australia-wide association representing the $40
billion road freight transport industry.
Its chief executive Warren Clark and director Maggie Welsh were key guest
speakers at the caravan club's recent 11th Annual National Muster in NSW.
"Truckies and RVers have a lot in common," caravan club chief executive
Craig Humphrey said afterwards. "We all want to travel safely on the
road."
The ACC has already opened discussions with NatRoad to formulate the code
for RVers and truckies to follow.
"This starts with both truckies and RVers having respect for each other on
the road and understanding each other’s needs," Mr Humphrey said.
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Mr Humphrey |
"At this early stage, the ACC is still pursuing our members' specific
requirements.
"Truckies complain about RVers using truck-allocated space in rest areas
and travelling too slow on the road.
"RVers complain that there is not enough space allocated for RVs in rest
areas and of truckies tailgating them."
Mr Humphrey said early discussions had shown more rest areas were needed
and that many existing ones were not large enough.
"I’m sure a lot of the antagonism that exists between truckies and RVers
would be alleviated with bigger shared rest areas and more of them for
RVers along major highways," he said.
He warned that if truckies and RVers did not work together, both could
find themselves faced with regulations being imposed that neither wanted.
"I know that RVers don't want to have to have a special RV licence, and
I'm sure that truckies don't want further regulations imposed on an
already heavily regulated industry," he said.
"RVers need to understand that truckies are keeping the country moving and
have a strict schedule.
"They have regulated rest and sleep breaks that must be adhered to by law.
"If these are not met and properly logged, they can face heavy fines and
ultimately lose their livelihood."
Mr Humphrey said truckies also needed to understand that travelling RVers
also get fatigued and needed to rest or sleep.
"Each need to be better educated about how to interact with each other on
the road. Both truckies and RVers need to use their UHF to communicate
with each other when approaching to overtake."
He said the ACC was looking forward to working with NatRoad.
"I'm optimistic that a code of conduct can be developed and that together
we will be a major force to lobby for bigger and better rest areas and
other ways to improve the safety and experience of both truckies and RVers
on the road," Mr Humphrey added.