Truck ban in the right-hand lane of the Monash extended after successful trial

Trucks will be permanently banned from the right-hand lane of the Monash Freeway after a successful six month trial resulted in fewer crashes.

Roads Minister Luke Donnellan told Neil Mitchell there has been a 40 per cent reduction in accidents since the trial.

Trucks are also banned from the right-hand lane on the Geelong Road, Eastern Freeway and EastLink.

Figures today show crashes dropped from 18 to 11 compared to the same period last year, between Huntingdale Road at Mount Waverley and Jackson Rd at Noble Park.

Neil Mitchell questioned if it could be extended to other roads, such as dual carriageways and freeways.

Let’s extend it to all freeways and dual carriageways – Neil

“It would depend on the entry and exit points on the major arterials, it has to be assessed by VicRoads to see if it can be done safely,” he said.

“VicRoads does that on an ongoing basis, that’s why we started the trial on the Monash, because they assesses that could possibly work well.”

He said so far, no truck drivers had been fined and instead they were educated about the rule.

“We haven’t applied one penalty to date, but it’s $161. We’ve had 98 per cent compliance and its been engaging directly with the trucking companies,” he said.

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Photo: AAP