Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Police are continuing to urge the trucking industry to ensure heavy vehicles are up to scratch as an ongoing safety operation in Northland continues to find faults.
The operation, run by Police’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Team, Waka Kotahi and WorkSafe, is monitoring truck movements along State Highway 1 between Northport and Auckland and commenced last week.
To date, there have been 1201 heavy vehicles stopped with 222 failing their inspections. This continues to be a fail rate of around 1 in 5 heavy vehicles stopped.
Twenty-two of these heavy vehicles have been given non-operational orders.
Senior Sergeant Mike Flatt, Team Leader for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Team, says the continued trend of faults being identified is disappointing.
“In one case we identified seven faults on a single truck that was stopped on State Highway 1. Two other trucks had four faults identified each.
“The largest percentage of faults being identified are still related to lighting and wheels and brakes, which remains of concern to us.”
Police have now issued a total of 156 infringement notices and 56 written warnings.
“While our staff don’t want to be handing out infringement notices, our main priority remains ensuring that all road users, including the truck drivers themselves, are safe and get to their destinations safely.”
Waka Kotahi Senior Manager Safer Commercial Transport Brett Aldridge reinforced Police concerns.
“What we are finding roadside is a real concern and should serve as a stark warning to the trucking industry that it must comply with safety standards,” he says.
“We will be following up with operators to ensure they have the right systems and processes in place so that their fleets are well maintained and safe.
Where we find safety issues, we will not hesitate to take action.”
ENDS
NZ Police
