A POWERFUL coalition of rail unions, transport and motoring groups is urging federal and state governments to ban the movement of dangerous goods by road, following a spate of fatal accidents over Christmas and the new year.
The coalition wants each state and territory to introduce a uniform amendment to their dangerous goods acts that would require hazardous materials, such as petrol and other chemicals, to be transported to and from the nearest available rail hub.
The campaign, led by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, comes as a family of three died yesterday after their car and a truck collided on the Newell Highway. It also follows the death of a man involved in a fuel tanker crash on the NSW far south coast on December 28.
''We want a change in the law and not just some fluffy voluntary code of conduct,'' the union's national organiser, Bob Nanva, said. ''There is no logical reason that all governments cannot act to ban long-distance road transport of dangerous goods.
''Having hundreds of extra long-haul trucks sharing our roads with mums, dads and kids in the car is hardly a good thing when they're carrying millions of litres of flammable petrol.
''If companies choose to put commercial imperatives ahead of doing the right thing by the thousands of families that depend on our roads, governments should pull them into line.''
A recent NSW parliamentary research paper found trucks carried 89 per cent of freight between Sydney and Melbourne and 76 per cent of that between Sydney and Brisbane. Mr Nanva said 3000 trucks thundered up and down the Hume Highway every night.
The union said it would enlist the support of the Australasian Rail Association and the motoring body NRMA to back its campaign, after both organisations expressed concern about the increasing amount of road freight.
Late last year, the NRMA's chief executive, Tony Stuart, wrote to the union expressing concern that Shell had decided to stop using rail to transport petrol from its Sydney refinery to regional NSW, citing ''efficiency'' reasons.
''Whilst the decision Shell has taken has been based on financial considerations, clearly the wider economic and safety concerns have been ignored or at best overlooked,'' he said.
A spokesman for the NRMA emphasised the organisation had long been concerned about the increase in heavy truck traffic and the threat it posed to families on the road, well before yesterday's tragedy, and had offered its support to the union as early as October.
In a recent letter to the union, the rail association chief, Brian Nye, also expressed support for the campaign. ''Does the Government want the bulk fuel cargo to travel by rail on a safer, more environmentally friendly network, using less fuel, or does the Government want the fuel cargo to go by road?'' Mr Nye wrote. ''It has the power and the policy levers to make such a decision.''
He also cited federal Department of Transport figures showing that in 2008 there were 95 deaths involving heavy, rigid trucks.
The NSW Minister for Transport, David Campbell, said the State Government had set a target of 40 per cent of freight being moved by rail from its expanded Port Botany terminal and had also signed an agreement with the Federal Government to lease more rail tracks in the Hunter Valley and to other states.
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