Truckies told to keep pulling over

Waikato police are assuring truckies they may pull over to let traffic past on a key stretch of the notorious Maramarua highway, despite a conflicting message from Auckland.

A letter from a Counties-Manukau police sergeant warning a large transport firm against using wide shoulders beside Heaven Straight, east of Maramarua, to let faster vehicles pass has alarmed truck drivers trying to improve their image.

But Waikato road policing manager Inspector Leo Tooman, whose territory encompasses the straight, said yesterday he had assured the freight industry there was nothing illegal about the manoeuvre.

"I disagree with it entirely," he said of the letter to Thames-based Provincial Freightlines. The letter warned that its drivers risked fines if they continued to use the shoulder by allegedly failing to keep within their lane. "I think something's got a bit screwed up," said Mr Tooman.

Counties-Manukau police could not be contacted to comment on the letter, which said the practice was potentially dangerous as vehicles often created three lanes of traffic on the straight by trying to overtake in the face of oncoming drivers.

But Mr Tooman said it was perfectly legal to straddle a "rumble strip" on the edge of the shoulder, as he often did, in one of the few stretches along the difficult road where slower vehicles could pull over.

Although it is an offence for motorists to stray outside a designated lane, Mr Tooman said there was no such feature on that part of the road, and painted white lines were part of tactic to discourage excessive speed.

The Road Transport Association's Waikato area manager, Gary Masters, said the letter from Auckland risked undermining his attempts to persuade truck drivers to show common courtesy to other motorists and let them pass where it was safe and practical to do so.

"We are big and ugly and take a lot of road space, but this is one way we can try to lift the image of the industry," he said, noting that at least 12,000 trucks passed through the Waikato every 24 hours.

"I think he is trying to prove a point," Mr Masters said of the Auckland officer.

"That might be viable in the city, but when he's out on country roads he has got to get real."

Any differences of opinion about how to police Heaven Straight will soon be removed, when Transit New Zealand builds proper passing lanes along a 1.6km stretch after Christmas for about $2.2 million.

Transit's Waikato manager, Chris Allen, acknowledged this was likely to cause some disruption to traffic but expected the project to be complete before winter.