Coal trucks.

It is suggested that restrictions be lifted to allow the movement of coal to be on a 24/7 basis. At present night movement and transport on Sundays is banned to give residents a respite from noise and dust.

The reaction of residents seems to depend on their place of residence. Those who live near a main road coal route obviously fear their sleep being disturbed by exhaust braking and the general noise of heavy trucks.

The majority of Wollongong residents would be unaffected.

It does make sense to distribute the movement of heavy trucks over a twenty-four hour period rather than forcing them to add to peak hour and normal time day traffic.
The road system is almost deserted during the early hours and this should suit truck drivers. It would bring easier driving conditions - and with the lack of traffic jams would come an increase in the number of deliveries achieved.

There is also the coming road problems of the Port Kembla expansion. We will shortly see a huge expansion of truck movements when both the container and imported car trade is centred on this port - and the present restrictions only apply to coal trucks.

If the government extended night and Sunday movement bans to all trucks in this area the port expansion would become unworkable. We would see gridlock at peak times.

The only logical way out of this problem is to bite the bullet and remove the ban on night and Sunday coal truck movements.

Those that live beside a busy main highway will just have to learn to live with it !