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Council wants fines for heavy vehicles illegally using this road to increase tenfold

Blue Mountains City Council mayor Mark Greenhill wants to see much tougher penalties for heavy vehicles breaching weight and length limits on Old Bathurst Road.

Old Bathurst Road currently has a vehicle weight limit of 3.5 tonnes and length limit of 7.5 metres, with $227 fines for those breaching these limits. Greenhill wants to see this increase tenfold.

Greenhill’s comments follow another incident on the road earlier this week.

On Monday (July 29), concrete was found spilled on Old Bathurst Road, which the council says resulted in slippery unsafe conditions on the bends and sparked a significant clean-up operation.

Previously, digital signage was in place to warn truck drivers not to use the road.

However, this was removed from the bottom of the hill by Penrith City Council after they installed large static warning signs to deter oversize vehicles from breaching weight and length limits for the road.

Blue Mountains City Council says it is now hoping for a meeting with Penrith City Council, Transport for NSW and NSW Police to review Old Bathurst Road safety issues and identify the best ways to prevent oversized vehicles from using Old Bathurst Road.

Greenhill said drivers who broke similar weight and height rules at Galston Gorge in the Hornsby Local Government Area faced far greater penalties.

“If you drive an overweight or oversized vehicle in Galston Gorge, you face a significantly higher fine of $2818,” he said.

“This has been an ongoing situation for many years, and obviously the current fine is not acting as a deterrent for drivers who don’t mind flouting the rules on this very steep and winding road.

“There should be no difference between breaking the rules in Hornsby and breaking them in the Blue Mountains.”

Greenhill took a Notice of Motion to yesterday’s council meeting, for this issue to be further addressed and enforced as a priority, including seeking support for the higher penalty for oversized trucks using Old Bathurst Road from NSW Transport Minister Joanna Haylen and Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle.

“Council has long-standing concerns about the movement of heavy vehicles through the Blue Mountains; I said five years ago the situation on Old Bathurst Road is a fatality waiting to happen,” added Greenhill.

“We need to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure safety on our roads.”
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