Loose loads are road hazards that have the potential to kill or harm, as well as cause delays on Auckland’s motorways, so encouraging people to tie their loads down securely is the focus of a new NZ Transport Agency campaign.
The NZ Transport Agency is targeting commercial operators, DIYers and anyone who uses the Auckland motorway network to transport goods, in a campaign to reduce the amount of debris falling onto the city’s motorways.
The Tie-It-Down campaign will educate drivers about the potential dangers of loose loads.
The NZ Transport Agency’s Motorway Alliance Director, Steve Mutton says it’s responding to an increasing number of callouts to remove or clean up badly secured loads that have fallen from the roofs of cars or the backs of trailers.
The Auckland Motorway Alliance which is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the motorways receives around 1500 call outs a year to clean up or remove debris or insecure loads that have fallen onto the motorway.
In the past six months alone there have been 40 reports of mattresses on the Auckland motorway network.
Most incidents involve the police, a NZ Transport Agency incident response team, and continuous monitoring from the Traffic Control Centre.
“Every piece of debris that falls onto the motorway is a potential hazard. We’ve had to pick up everything from mattresses to pieces of timber. As well as the risk of causing a crash and hurting other road users, these incidents can also lead to delays for the travelling public,” says Steve Mutton.
“Over the past five years there have been an average of 35 debris related accidents recorded by the police each year, in nearly every case the incident could have been avoided if the load had been properly secured or covered.”
Over the next 6 months the Transport Agency will be educating drivers about the risks and how they can minimise them by remembering three key messages - “load it up, tie it down and check it out”.
For tips on how to make sure your load is secure and to enter a competition to show us your ‘tie it down’ skills visit Tieitdown.co.nz(external link)
You can upload pictures showing your secure load and go into the draw to win a $500 voucher for your local hardware store.
