Eyes on the road

The country’s newest commercial vehicle safety centre is now up and running in Bombay.

Commercial vehicle safety centres are sites where police officers can do thorough inspections of heavy vehicles, checking things such as vehicle weight, road user charges, and driver impairment. The Bombay centre is on Great South Road, just off the motorway.

Supporting infrastructure, including weigh-in-motion scales, static vehicle recognition cameras, and variable message signage, has been installed on State Highway 1 (SH1), both north and south of Bombay Interchange and on Great South Road.

NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) head of commercial transport regulation, Tara McMillan, says
this technology screens passing heavy vehicles, and any con-compliant vehicles will be directed into the CVSC. Once operational, police officers on site will check for vehicle weight, road user charges (RUC), certificate of fitness, logbook and driver impairment.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Team (CVST) monitors all areas of the commercial vehicle
industry, including trucks, buses, taxis, couriers, mobile cranes, and mobile homes.

Sergeant Gareth Davis, CVST section supervisor, says the technology and specialist equipment allow for more comprehensive checks.

“If your vehicle is flagged during screening, a roadside electronic sign will instruct you to pull into the centre. A full inspection of a commercial vehicle can take between 45 minutes and one hour.”

The CVST is made up of sworn police officers with additional specialist training in commercial vehicle enforcement and vehicle safety officers (VSOs).

VSOs are qualified diesel mechanics with extensive experience and knowledge of commercial vehicles. They are authorised officers within the police, qualified to carry out all levels of inspection and are authorised to issue speeding infringements.

The CVSCs have come a long way from the old vehicle weigh stations, with the Bombay centre the seventh to open, with five centres either already under construction or to be built.