27 JANUARY 2016

The NSW Police and Roads and Maritime Services Joint Heavy Vehicle Taskforce carried out its first major operation for 2016 this morning, targeting a Western Sydney transport operator.

“Today’s operation involved safety and compliance inspections of 55 trucks and trailers in the Moits fleet, the company involved in an incident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Friday afternoon,” Roads and Maritime General Manager Compliance Operations Paul Endycott said.

Mr Endycott said traffic was disrupted for around three hours on Friday when a trailer dumped a load of rubble across live traffic lanes.

“The clean up was lengthy because of the dirt and rocks which needed to be cleared, impacting traffic in and out of the city,” Mr Endycott said.

“The trailer was found to have worn and faulty tailgate locks and the company was issued a defect notice.

“Today the inspections uncovered four major defects all involving brake issues. There were a further 35 minor defects uncovered for faults including oil and fuel leaks, loose tow attachments and unreadable number plates.”

Traffic and Highway Patrol Command Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said the Joint Heavy Vehicle Taskforce had improved road safety through encouraging compliance and targeting rouge operators.

“Where evidence points to systemic failures or calculated risks by operators, those companies can expect to be subjected to enforcement action from the Joint Traffic Task Force,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Smith said.

The taskforce has been operating since 2012 and targets heavy vehicle safety such as speeding, fatigue management, poor loading practices, roadworthiness, drug use and dangerous behaviours.

Media: ROADS AND MARITIME SERVICES MEDIA UNIT 8588 5999 or media@rms.nsw.gov.au