Surveillance Officers monitoring construction and road work sites in Victoria to ensure they comply with regulations and standards are now more environmentally friendly thanks to the addition of three new zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs).
Part of the State Government’s $340 million Smarter Roads program, six new Congestion Surveillance and Audit officers will ensure clearways are kept unclogged and road worksites are being managed safely to keep traffic flowing on major arterials in three zones across Melbourne’s South East, West, and East.
In the South East the zone covers Cranbourne, Berwick, Dandenong, Oakleigh, and Mordialloc.
The West zone covers Werribee, Laverton, Point Cook, Altona and Williamstown, while in the East, the zone includes Wantirna, Rowville, Glen Waverley, Ferntree Gully and Bayswater.
The introduction of these vehicles is part of the State Government’s plan to deliver 400 ZEVs to the Government fleet by 2023 as part of a $100 million package to get more Victorians into the greener vehicles and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll said worksites will be safer and congestion through work zones will be minimised as this initiative rolls out.
“These new electric vehicles will go a long way to help our surveillance team work with industry to improve traffic flow around work sites, while also reducing our carbon footprint,” Mr Carroll said.
“Zero emissions vehicles play a critical role in our plan to achieve net-zero by 2050.
“We have set a target of 50 per cent of new light vehicle sales to be zero emissions by 2030.”
The new ZEVs were chosen because of their extended battery range, operating from as early as 4:00am with the team visiting some of the 1500 worksites operating every day on the state’s road network, the government said.
Victoria is currently undergoing its biggest ever construction boom and with road levels currently at 92 per cent of pre-pandemic figures, the team is educating industry to ensure safety when workers are on the road, as well as ensuring speed limits are restored when no work is underway to keep traffic moving safely.
The Traffic Management Reform Program which was launched in February also requires all traffic management companies to be accredited.
Surveillance and Audit Officers are already engaging with industry to help facilitate this change over the next twelve months.
VicRoads is working with traffic management companies along with leading training providers to update and improve the practices around some of our most significant work programs, along with making it safer for roadworkers at any site in the state, the government said.
Since the inception of the Surveillance Team in November 2019, Congestion Surveillance and Audit officers have already inspected 6000 individual worksites.
Working with the industry, officers have seen a marked increase in compliance, and now regularly receive requests from industry to inspect their sites.
