Rod Hannifey's green reflective dots on highways markers tackles fatigue

Driving along, Rod Hannifey was unsure where he could pull over, and by the time he came across a spot, it was too late to stop safely.

He decided it was time to develop a simple, cost-effective way for heavy vehicle drivers to spot a safe, informal place to pull over to manage fatigue and other road safety issues.

"In 1999, I started using blue reflector circles because they were cheap and easy to install to give drivers a heads-up," Mr Hannifey said. "But now it has changed to green."

Wagga City Council has revealed that fatigue is the second-highest contributing factor of all crashes in the local government area.

Speed is the highest at 18.1 percent of crashes in the Wagga LGA, which is higher than the NSW rate at 15.7 percent.

Mr Hannifey said he decided to have the reflectors installed in a "3,2,1" pattern to give drivers enough warning to stop safely.

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"There are three green reflectors on a guidepost about 400m to 500m before the site," he said.

"Then two green reflectors on a guidepost approximately 200m to 250m beforehand and then one green reflector on a guidepost immediately before the entrance."

The green spots are found along the entire stretch of the Newell Highway and in parts of the Olympic and Sturt highways.

For Mr Hannifey the work of getting funding and implementing the reflectors is all worth it.

"I have had blokes tell me that I have saved their life," he said.

"Sometimes you might be tired, or you hit a roo, or need to pee, or you might need to check your load, and there is not a truck stop for a while. These informal places just help keep our drivers safe."

Road Trauma resulted in 1100 people being admitted to a health facility with the Wagga LGA from 2019 to 2019, costing the community around $320 million.

In one of multiple campaigns, council has used its prominent gateway signs on both the Sturt and Olympic highways with the message "Wagga Wagga, say "Yeah ... NAH" to driving tired. Everyday decisions matter".

Council is also running a seatbelts save truckies lives too" road safety initiative which includes being the first LGA to implement thermo plastic decals at Wagga Truck businesses, Gregadoo Waste Management and the Tarcutta Truck stop.

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