By Matthew Sims
Footscray residents have expressed their concern of health impacts as heavy trucks continue to drive down Footscray’s streets despite curfews being in place to stop A-double and B-double trucks.
A group of Footscray residents have recently founded the Bring Back the Footscray Truck Curfew community group and launched a petition calling for Roads and Road Safety Minister Ben Carroll to immediately end all the exemptions for heavy trucks and road trains during the curfew hours in Footscray, which has attracted more than 400 signatures at the time of publication.
Bring Back the Footscray Truck Curfew spokesperson Scott Adams said despite a heavy truck curfew being introduced in Footscray in 2015, the numbers of heavy trucks driving along Footscray roads were too high.
“It is currently not being enforced,” he said.
“The numbers have grown so much it is like there is no longer a curfew at all.
“Our living standards and health is being compromised and we need immediate action.”
As reported by Star Weekly, Maribyrnong mayor Anthony Tran and councillor Bernadette Thomas joined Maribyrnong Truck Action Group president Martin Wurt, local MPs Katie Hall and Melissa Horne and Victorian Transport Association chief executive Peter Anderson to announce signage would be installed along Somerville Road indicating no A-double or B-double trucks were permitted along Somerville Road between Geelong Road and Whitehall Street.
The signage has complemented a pilot program of cameras monitoring curfew compliance, with the first of a number of proposed cameras now up and running on the corner of Somerville Road and Williamstown Road.
A state government spokesperson said the government has been working with the community, industry, the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and Maribyrnong council to reduce the impact of trucks in the inner west.
“Our existing truck curfews aim to strike a balance between community needs and the long-term viability of the freight network,” the spokesperson said.
Details: www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/bring-back-the-footscray-truck-curfew
