Truck blitz

VICTORIA Police will be focussed on heavy vehicle road safety this month and are warning all drivers to take care on the roads.
Operations Austrans is a month-long heavy vehicle enforcement campaign, which has been conducted annually since 1989 and has a strong focus on highways connecting Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane.
The operation will target fatigue, speeding, drug use and unroadworthy vehicle offences within the heavy vehicle industry in an attempt to make the state’s highways safer for all road users.
Police from the State Highway Patrol, including all members of the Heavy Vehicle Unit, and the Road Policing Drug and Alcohol Section will all take part in the operation – as well as highway patrol units across regional Victoria.
VicRoads TSS officers and Worksafe Victoria will also take part.
While the operation will focus on heavy vehicles, police are warning all drivers to take care on the roads.
An intelligence review into the 48 fatal collisions that involved heavy vehicles last year found that 65 per cent were not the fault of the truck drivers.
This has led police to call on all road users to change their behaviour when sharing the road with heavy vehicles.
Road Policing Superintendent Neville Taylor said police research showed that drivers were not being vigilant enough around heavy vehicles.
Supt Taylor said drivers should always leave about a three-second gap when travelling behind heavy vehicles, and to check the truck’s mirrors.
“If you can’t see the driver – they can’t see you,” he said.