As Australia’s highways grow ever more busy, the pressure on many of the country’s roadside rest areas is apparently reaching crisis point.
The shortage of available ‘spots’ is causing some friction between two of the heaviest users, truckies and grey nomads … and it’s also prompting some innovative suggested solutions.
In New South Wales, for example, roads minister, Duncan Gay has just raised the possibility of truck drivers booking their parking spots ahead of time to give them certainty about where they can pull over for rest breaks.
Trials are already underway to let truckies know in advance if a rest area is full, but the NSW branch of the Australian Trucking Association says extending that to include a booking service may be too hard. It says issues of management and of ‘policing’ booked sites would probably make it unworkable.
The Association says that the priority has to be building more heavy vehicle rest areas … and to stop travellers using them as camping sites.
“These are not camping spots and pretend caravan parks so people should not be putting up their awnings and having their cups of tea,” ATA NSW manager Jodie Broadbent told Australian Trucking News. “Our rest areas for freight vehicles are very important so drivers can comply with legislative requirements, and having somebody set up their caravan and camp there is entirely inappropriate.”
While many grey nomads say they would never use a designated truck rest area to take a break, others say that if they need to rest after many long hours on the road, then they should be free to do so. They argue it is better that they rest up in a truckies’ rest area rather than driving on, and potentially putting their safety – and that of other road users – at risk.
Meanwhile, the NSW Government says it is working to build more rest areas.
Booking ahead is just a “pie in the sky” idea. Who will police/monitor the sites?. Also you don’t always know where you will need to stop. Yes I have stopped briefly in a truck parking area. I always go right to the front, only long enough for a cuppa. Yes have often had to keep driving to get to a suitable place to pull over. Depends on the country – flat or hilly etc. Usually know my limits but sometimes that can change and do need a safe place to have a rest before driving on. I have found that Victoria has planty of stopping places but the other states are very lacking especially NSW.
Mains roads in all states could do better at putting rest stops for all road users .there are many places that a suitable rest stops could be made for very little cost, old gravel heaps that have been used to build roads, are already packed earth,have entry points, streches of ‘old highways’ that could safely be made into road/ truck rest areas, simply by NOT digging a trench at either end when the road is realigned.
It would be a foolish nomad to camp in a truck stop ! Trucks are very noisy, as are some of there loads, like 500 head of bleating sheep,
I feel for the truck drivers, not only are stops for them few and far apart,ones with a toilet are like hens teeth, at least nowadays a lot of nomad vehicles have a loo.
All travellers need more rest stops,both day and night stops,the registration we all pay should have a % dedicated to upgrading roadside services.
Booking ahead is already a failure in Qld in National Parks. More roadside stops and rest areas is needed, but truckies do have a legal requirement to stop and rest, and should therefore be provided for.
Trucks don’t have toilets, most grey nomads so.
Truckies have fairly tight driving hours restrictions and the governments that passed those standards have a moral and legal responsibility to provide adequate rest areas.
On the other hand all motorists including grey nomads have a responsibility to pull over and take a break when they get tired.
We need more rest stops. Full stop.
We need a lot more rest stops. For trucks only they need to be signposted as such, not just a picture of a truck. To many this image means a truck is allowed to stop there or a truck is able to stop there. It should read “Trucks Only” and state how far it is to a shared stop. Some states are good at this, some have very few stops all together.