VANNERS AND TRUCKERS VS THE COUNCIL

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For those of you who may not be in the know, for many years vanners and truckies have been waging war over rights to rest stops. Vanners say truckies are inconsiderate, loud and unaccommodating. Truckies say vanners are not understanding of the fact that they are working hard on the road, day in and day out, to bring supplies to the furthest reaches of Australia. What it boils down to, I reckon, is plain old bad planning by the councils.

The other day I received a letter from a truckie who’s come up with a great idea to put an end to the whole big mess. His solution – a National Rest Area Design.

Rod has spent years on the road as a truckie and knows how deep the animosity between vanners and truckies runs. However, he also acknowledges that its time to all put it aside and work together to fight the councils and put a better plan in place.

Basically, his plan is to re-design the rest stops nation-wide, to create a welcoming area for both truckies and vanners to pull up and have a kip after a long day’s drive. In Rod’s plan, everyone is covered – as you’ll see in the diagram, he’s created separate areas for caravans and trucks, he’s also included a ‘shared’ area. You’ll also see he’s created space for amenities such as toilets, BBQs and tables. There’s even consideration for those travelling with children.

Parking Bay Design

Rod acknowledges that “Yes, such sites can cost up to a million dollars, but we must start somewhere. We need a National Rest Area design and it needs to be done by someone who’s slept in one – as most are created by people who have probably never been to a rest area”.

At the end of the day, if we can all ban together to fight the councils and get behind a plan as inspired as Rods, then everyone on the road will be better off for it. Better, safer rest areas means better, safer roads.

I’d love to know what your thoughts are about Rod’s beaut plan for re-designing our country’s rest areas. If you’ve got an idea or have an opinion on this matter, email me at [email protected]