Our Wide Load campaign is aimed at educating drivers entering the Mackay and Bowen Basin region to the correct procedures when an oversize load escort vehicle approaches. Statistically our region has the highest number of oversize loads within Australia. Correct and timely driver response is essential. Trucks and their loads can often occupy the entire road width, making it important for motorists to know how to act when encountered. Not responding appropriately is very dangerous and unlawful and may have severe consequences.
There have been several iterations of the Wide Load campaign, each year building on the previous. In 2023, RAAG was able (with funding from Glencore – Hail Creek Community Investment Program) to design and install twenty-one large, permanent signs at driver rest areas throughout the region, potentially educating thousands of travellers. Our volunteers were critical to the implementation of this project, from designing the sign, approaching stakeholders for approval, organising printing of the signs, and installing them. With the assistance of an applied for grant we hope to expand on this project later this year to a further reaching audience. Again, our volunteers and members will be relied upon for the hands-on work involved.
In addition to this, we also advocated for a greater awareness of wide load safety education, by campaigning for car and caravan rental/sale companies to include our wide load flyers in their information packs. We have included a copy for download, which is free for sharing among networks.
Tips for Travellers:
- If towing vans in the Bowen Basin, a very good idea is to monitor channel 40 this will give a good warning of size of wide loads approaching.
- If a police escort vehicle is approaching, quickly find a place to stop this is a seriously wide load approaching, beware of soft shoulders on the roadside.