Despite the fact that our roads are designed to geometric standards, some roads pose a high risk of truck rollover. Potentially dangerous road features are tight radius curves, inappropriate superelevation, excessive crossfall variation, compound cornering and low friction surfaces. Anyone of these can increase the likelihood of a heavy vehicle rollover and put the asset owner at risk. Gundagai Shire Council was aware of the danger that a truck could rollover when using their roads. The Council acted to minimise their exposure to this risk and engaged ARRB to evaluate part of their road network. ARRB were commissioned to assess an approximately 40 km section of road between the Hume Highway and Olympic Highway in New South Wales. ARRB assessed the risk associated with a heavy vehicle travelling on the locally owned road network. ARRB determined the maximum safe speed that trucks could negotiate bends to help the council manage the level of risk. The intent of the assessment was to identify any critical bends where the vehicle speed needs to be limited (below the existing limit), to ensure that a fully laden vehicle, at maximum height, can safely negotiate the bend. (a).
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