Blue Mountains Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill, is seeking a tenfold increase in fines for large, oversized vehicles breaching weight and length limits on Old Bathurst Road, Blaxland, following yet another spillage incident on the roadway.
Concrete was discovered spilled on the roadway early on Monday, 29 July, causing slippery unsafe conditions on the bends and sparking a significant clean-up operation.
Digital flashing signage was previously in place to warn truck drivers not to use the road. However, this was removed from the bottom of the hill by Penrith City Council after they had installed large static warning signs, which they viewed as being sufficient to deter oversize vehicles breaching weight and length limits for the road.
Blue Mountains City Council will now as a priority seek a meeting with Penrith City Council, Transport for NSW, and NSW Police (responsible for enforcement of oversized or overweight vehicles), to further review Old Bathurst Road safety issues and to identify the best ways of stopping oversized vehicles from using Old Bathurst Road.
Old Bathurst Road has a vehicular weight limit of 3.5 tonnes and vehicular length limit of 7.5 metres. Any driver breaching these limits, however, only faces a $227 fine.
Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill said drivers who broke similar rules at Galston Gorge in the Hornsby Local Government Area, faced substantially greater penalties.
"If you drive an overweight or oversized vehicle in Galston Gorge, you face a significantly higher fine of $2,818," Mayor Greenhill said.
"This has been an ongoing situation for many years, and obviously the current fine is not acting as a deterrent for drivers who don't mind flaunting the rules on this very steep and winding road.
"There should be no difference between breaking the rules in Hornsby and breaking them in the Blue Mountains."
Mayor Greenhill will take a Notice of Motion to the 30 July Council meeting, for this significant road safety issue to be further addressed and enforced as a priority, including seeking support for the higher penalty for oversized trucks using Old Bathurst Road from NSW Transport Minister Joanna Haylen and Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle.
"Council has long-standing concerns about the movement of heavy vehicles through the Blue Mountains; I said five years ago the situation on Old Bathurst Road is a fatality waiting to happen," Mayor Greenhill said.
Council will also contact Google Maps to investigate ways to ensure Old Bathurst Road is not being promoted as a route through the Blue Mountains.
"We need to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure safety on our roads."
