Victoria bans trucks in the right hand lane on freeways

[OilBurna]

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/victoria-first-state-to-ban-trucks-from-righthand-freeway-lanes-20100303-ph73.html

[Tim]

its already illegal for any car to travel in the right hand lane unless they are overtaking. Pointless move in my opinion as its the trucks that are giving traffic the hurry up most of the time anyways.

The real problems are in the stupidity of the average driver. My biggest gripe especially on the monash at the minute is people not following the advice of signs that say to merge right or left to avoid roadworks. Which then causes them to stop traffic as they try and squeeze in at the last second.

Finally if you feel "itimidated by a truck" then i would contend that you arent really ready to be driving on the roads. Trucks arent the problem. Its people who have no idea how to drive in their presence and for the most part arent comfortable driving. And yes if youre that moron that stops on freeway onramps because you cant make your way into the traffic then Im most likely referring to you.

[Hooligan]

I totally agree with you mate.
And I think 83% of motorist that conducted the
survey should have there licence suspended

[Water Boy]

Well said Tim.

[Rocket36]

Read the article. It's for roads with 3 or more lanes. So they still have another two they can use. This is the sort of thing that makes sense when you often sit in snail's pace traffic on the West Gate Fwy because there are trucks in ALL the lanes.

This is a GOOD move.

Although a MUCH better move would be to get the trucks off the road by investing in a state of the art rail network - get the freight back on the rails! NATIONALLY!

[STV4SYT]

I'm all for it, this works in the UK.

And as i am now driving 35km of the monash each way on a daily basis i think it should be extended to All Honda's, Camry's, RAV's and Taxi's aswell.

What annoys me more at the moment is the number of people that sit on 95, both in the 100 zone and when it goes back to 80.

Every morning i get overtaken in the 80's only to get held up by the same cars when i hit the 100 zone and open it up a bit.

[Tim]

Although a MUCH better move would be to get the trucks off the road by investing in a state of the art rail network - get the freight back on the rails! NATIONALLY!

And then teleport it from the railway line to the warehouses? Trucks are here to stay im afraid so we may as well learn to live with them.

The issue is that our roads have hit saturation point. I dont understand what difference it makes if you are sitting in bumper to bumper traffic behind a car or a truck?
Too many people are trying to get to the same place at the same time. Perhaps that is an issue that needs some debate.

I agree though that our rail network is pathetic. If only the gov would have spent money on more infrastructure which is sorely needed instead of pissing it up against a wall. Imagine if convenient/reliable/cheap public trasport was available? Would that help relieve congenstion on our roads?

[nathe]

freeways how can it mattter. the only time trucks annoy me is on the road where you have a truck in both lanes on a hill and it holds up everyone....on the freeways trucks arent traveling slow, most of the time theyre at or above the speed of the rest of the traffic. esp considering you have the idiots that travel at 70 cause theyre too scared to go faster

[DeanB]

It's a similar rule in Germany where on the Autobahns trucks are prohibited from moving from the "slow" lane between certain hours.

They have some nice rules over there, like:
- trucks are not allowed to travel on the autobahns on sundays unless they are transporting perishable goods !
- a lot of "big" cities will not allow trucks into the CBD between 6am and 8pm !

I really wish this country would wise up and move a lot of the freight onto the rail network, I always find it farcical seeing a stream of 4-5 semi-trailers carrying cars along the Hume Highway ... the freight rail network in this country "should" be so much more efficient and cheaper then a truck travelling thousands of km's to deliver 5 or 6 cars !

[Rocket36]

And then teleport it from the railway line to the warehouses? Trucks are here to stay im afraid so we may as well learn to live with them.

Smart arse comment aside, I'm talking about the massive amounts of trucks transporting relatively small amounts of goods LONG DISTANCES. You will always need local deliveries from rail depots, but there's no reason that can't all be done overnight. It's clear some people know how well that sort of system works in Europe already (and having spent a lot of time in Europe I've seen it work first hand) and I never understand why Australia is so slow to invest in much smarter, more efficient methods that are proven elsewhere in the world.

[Tim]

I cant help but be a smart arse sorry. That doesnt make my points less valid

If you compare us with Europe though. We have a lot less to move and we move it a lot further. Im sure up until recently there has been no real financial case for investing in a system that has not been necessary. Especially given that im not convinced that trucks play a major part in congestion in this country.
Most of these truck convoys you speak of travel up and down the hume to depots in outer suburbs dont they? The only congestion on the hume is caused by roadworks. The whole point of rail freight is moot when it comes to the issue of congestion.

As with everything in this country the challenge is in the cost of infrastructure. We just dont have the markets to support major developments.


I think its clear that our government is out of touch with what is really going on on our roads. Continually their efforts to make the roads safe for everyone just contribute to the degradation in driver skill.
"people cant think for themselves so lets legislate for them" Sounds nice in theory but what are the implications in practice.

This whole decision seems like just another case of "lets be seen to be doing something" without really doing anything at all.

[Rocket36]

You obviously don't realise that this country's freight always used to be on rail...

The infrastructure is (or was) there. It just hasn't been maintained.

[Jayse]

You obviously don't realise that this country's freight always used to be on rail...

The infrastructure is (or was) there. It just hasn't been maintained.

Or some people don't want it maintained/improved.......

[Rocket36]

Or some people don't want it maintained/improved.......

Which people? Because that sounds rediculous to me considering it's more efficient than trucks on the road. Not to mention safer for other road users, more environmentally friendly and more economical.

It is my understanding that the cost of maintaining the rail networks became one of those state vs federal govt. battles over responsibilty and funding and that's why it's ended up the way it has. Since demand for transportation hasn't stopped, opperators simply switched to roads as they were maintained/improved more than rail as there is far more public visibility of that infrastructure meaning no govt. can afford to neglect it too much.

[Jayse]

Which people? Because that sounds rediculous to me considering it's more efficient than trucks on the road. Not to mention safer for other road users, more environmentally friendly and more economical.

It is my understanding that the cost of maintaining the rail networks became one of those state vs federal govt. battles over responsibilty and funding and that's why it's ended up the way it has. Since demand for transportation hasn't stopped, opperators simply switched to roads as they were maintained/improved more than rail as there is far more public visibility of that infrastructure meaning no govt. can afford to neglect it too much.

which group of people Rocket.....