The Truck Friendly caravan road safety program is working with the Australian Caravan Club Ltd and others to help promote a cooperative and supportive relationship on the nations roads, roadhouses and rest areas. There is also a strong need and push for better education of caravanners, RV drivers and truck drivers on how best to share the road. Click following to read response from Ken Wilson (Truck Friendly)

As part of the Truck Friendly mission statement states,

‘We need to remove the ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality that currently exists on our nations roads’.

 Many ‘Truck stops’, may have been originally put there for the trucks however with the increasing number of self contained vehicles also needing a place to rest or sleep, without adequate signage there is no reason other road users cannot rest there also with the trucks.

Courtesy need to be shown with space being left for long B-Doubles to be able to enter, stop and leave at all hours of the day or night. 

Respect is earned so abusing other road users does not earn respect and cooperation.

 There is a strong need for more, better designed and signed rest areas and truck stops. If it is for ‘Trucks only’ we need signage that states that, and have it legally enforced.

One of the video in an earlier article shows a truck pulling in at night to a rest area full of campers. According to research by RV Daily magazine – 

“I expect many readers will point out the myriad videos and pictures of caravans supposedly filling truck stops as evidence of the problem. The fact is, many of those videos and pictures don’t tell the full story. Take this video as an example. It is often used to highlight the supposed problem of caravanners filling truck stops and preventing truckies from using the sites.

The rest area is in Yelgun, NSW and offers parking for cars, caravans and trucks. Further, the video was taken during the popular Yelgun festival and the caravans and campers parked in the site were told to park there by the police.”

A second video shows a majority of what seems to be international tourists, and some others filling a truck stop as filmed by a truck driver. If the signage shown is correct that there is no camping allowed in that rest are or parking bay then it needs to be enforced by the authorities or owner.

Better education by the owners of the rental vans that target overseas tourists also needs to be in place.

If they are shared rest areas, we also need better signage and have separate areas to help with having better access and space available for the large trucks that won’t be taken up by inconsiderate local or international tourists parking in the middle.

Having shared facilities will help keep cost down and encourage a better understanding and relationship between the different road user groups, while encouraging a shared cup of coffee or cake and a chat.

We also need better signage and space at road houses to cater for the trucks and the caravans with many only offering car bays and the long unmarked bays that many truck drivers believe are there just for the trucks. Without proper signage and facilities there is always going to be frustration.

Please lobby your Governments of all levels for more signage, better and shared facilities for all road users.

A safer road starts with the attitude of the drivers.

Stay safe and stay Truck Friendly.

Ken Wilson