By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THREE trucks were towed away on Princes Highway in Hallam as part of a VicRoads safety campaign on Monday 6 July.
A joint operation with Victoria Police and WorkSafe left three truck drivers facing a towing fee, on-the-spot fines, repair and roadworthy costs.
A new on-the-spot fine of $630 was introduced from the beginning of this month.
Murray Collins from VicRoads said the operation is a costly for the operator.
“However, it does remove a vehicle which is a risk from being on our roads.”
On the day 42 vehicles were tested resulting in 29 major defects and eight minor defects being found.
Mr Collins said only high risk vehicles get pulled over “enabling the majority of freight carriers to continue their journey unimpeded”.
A part of operation Trishula’s recent inspections in the western suburbs found 93 per cent of the 97 vehicles checked failed the roadside test.
VicRoads is encouraging all heavy duty operators to ensure their vehicles are serviced and repaired to avoid the new hefty on-the-spot fine.
VicRoads director Eric Henderson said the roadworthy non-compliance penalty cost is nothing compared to the cost an unsafe vehicle could have on the community.
“Any un-roadworthy vehicle is a risk, with the potential to cause crashes and road trauma and the potential to break down, anywhere, anytime causing unnecessary hold-ups and great inconvenience to other road users,” he said.
