‘Safety and efficiency’: Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre opens at Ohakea

The new Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre has opened on Pukenui Rd State Highway 1/3 near Ohakea. Photo / NZTA

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Centre outside RNZAF Base Ohakea is now open for operation after more than a year of work.

The new centre on Pukenui Rd State Highway 1/3 is part of a project to build and renovate 12 centres on high-volume routes.

The Ohakea centre is one of five completed.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said the Ohakea location was chosen because it was a “vital link” to the central and lower North Island and was considered a high-volume freight route because more than 2000 heavy vehicles passed daily.

There are in-road weigh-in-motion scales and number plate recognition cameras in both directions about 2km from the facility, which screen heavy vehicles for compliance risk.

Vehicles deemed to be a risk will have their number plates displayed on an electronic sign and must go into the centre to be inspected.

“A [safety centre] screens heavy vehicles travelling past and provides data on operator and truck behaviour such as heavy vehicle weight, Certificate of Fitness status and driver fatigue. This information is used to direct operators into the centre for inspection by NZ Police,” NZTA commercial vehicle safety programme manager Sean Bridge said.

Drivers who do not pull into the centre when signalled risk a $1000 fine.

Bridge said the facilities aimed to increase travel efficiency for heavy vehicle operators while better monitoring compliance.

“These centres will help to improve compliance at the same time as improving travel times for operators, because those not flagged during screening won’t need to pull into the centre.”

Light vehicles will also be assessed but will not be directed into the centre.

The data collected on these vehicles is automatically anonymised and used for analysis, insights and reporting, with the exception of vehicles reported as stolen.

“The data we collect will give us insight into the behaviour of heavy vehicles on the network. Using this data, we’ll be able to target our education and compliance work toward where safety issues are found,” Bridge said.

“This ensures everyone is paying their fair share for use of the road; keeps compliant operators moving through more smoothly; and reduces the damage caused to the road by overloading, ultimately boosting safety and efficiency for all road users.”