Firefighters fed up with putting themselves in danger of being hit by vehicles while at roadside emergencies have welcomed the introduction of 40km/h safety zone speed limits.
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From September 1 motorists travelling past any emergency vehicle that has its red or blue lights flashing on the roadside must not exceed 40km/h.
The push for the limits started last year when Lucknow Rural Fire Service [RFS] captain Mick Bloomfield asked the Member of Orange Phil Donato to push the issue after several safety incidents involving his crew.
Mr Donato said his campaign had led to the state government announcing a 12-month trial on Sunday.
“After multiple letters to ministers, three questions in parliament, a notice of motion and a petition with thousands of signatures circulating across the state I’m glad the NSW government has finally acted,” he said.
“It is great to see Orange is punching well above our weight.”
He said motorists should treat the emergency zones the same as school zones.
Mr Donato said there would be a public education program ahead of the trial which he hoped would result in the zones becoming permanent.
The limits already apply in Victoria and South Australia.
Mr Bloomfield said local emergency crews had suffered several near misses and one member had been hit by a car travelling too fast past a scene.
“[I’m] extremely happy, on many occasions we’ve had near misses with our crews,” he said.
“We had an incident where one of our people was actually hit, thankfully he wasn’t hurt.
“I was nearly hit by a bus at a car crash a while back, 40km/h, at least it will slow them down.
“The other day we had a fire for instance. We had a truck half a metre from the side of the road.
“Cars were coming, and trucks, at 100km/h and we couldn’t even get out of the truck and we had a fire going at the side of the road, that happens to us all the time.”
Mr Bloomfield said criticism on social media that the law was unnecessary as drivers already slowed down to ‘rubber-neck’ at crash sites was misplaced.
“We had an incident a while ago where one of those rubber-neckers did slow down to 60 and hit a fire truck,” he said.
“People have got to take more responsibility.”
He said his crew would look to put 40km/h and Accident Ahead signs up to 200 metres away from crash scenes to warn motorists.
“If people can’t go from 100 [km/h] to 40 in 200 metres they shouldn’t be driving cars,” he said.
However, a spokesman for Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said signs and distances would not be involved.
He said it was up to motorists to travel at 40km/h past an emergency vehicle with its red or blue lights flashing.
The law will not cover yellow flashing lights or apply to motorists on the opposite side of the road.
A $439 fine, the loss of three demerit points or a maximum court penalty of $2200 will apply.
Police Minister Troy Grant said the credit should go to the government.
“I've been pushing for it from the start,” he said.
“There's a couple who got on the band wagon, Phil Donato got a petition out there, I thank him for the support.
“He's taking credit for the policy ... it’s like wearing medals without fighting in the war.
“I appreciate his [Mr Donato’s] support for the issue, but he had nothing to do with the decision.”