Posts Tagged ‘Southern Highlands’

RTA narrow shoulder caused tow truck deaths

Thursday, February 16th, 2012
Freeway’s narrow shoulders – obvious death traps
Site of another truck killing – this time the Hume Freeway near the Bowral turnoff, New South Wales

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Another week, another truck “cleaning up people” on trucking expressways.  Expressways with more and faster trucks are more dangerous.

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Not an unusual breakdown:

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A young woman travelling south in her car along the Hume Freeway suddenly experiences her car overheating on the Southern Highlands section.   The woman rightly pulls over into the left service lane (‘freeway shoulder‘) and she rightly calls the NRMA roadside breakdown service for mechanical assistance.

The NRMA rightly attends the breakdown incident and the mechanic arranges for a vehicle tow.  The NRMA subcontracts the tow operation out to local Mittagong-based tow truck operator, Highlander Towing.  Owner-operator, Geoffrey Clark, rightly attends with his vehicle tray truck and parks in front of the woman’s car in the service lane.  At this section of the Hume, the freeway shoulder is substandard in width and so the towing operation protrudes into the outside freeway lane.  The breakdown location is later confirmed by attending police that it was situated on a long straight section of the Hume having a good 500 metre visibility to south approaching traffic.

The tow truck had been tipped in readiness to pull the broken down car on to its tray just before the accident.  It is believed Mr Clark and the woman were standing on the roadside of their parked vehicles when a southbound truck struck both Geoffrey and the woman at freeway speed.  It is about 12:40pm (midday on a clear day). Both Mr Clarke and the still unidentified young woman died at the scene.

Crash investigators were last night trying to work out how the truck failed to see the woman’s maroon-coloured car and Mr Clark’s truck on the side of the road.   It is branded a ‘double fatality’.  Traffic is stopped causing congestion.  Police and paramedics attend, and the scene is assessed for the coroner.

These two people just going about their normal business suddenly and wrongly have become road ‘statistics’.  Statistics for the authorities to collate and report.
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‘Police said the truck literally cleaned up the two people’ 

~ The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).


“What chance would anyone have when a truck doing at least 100 kph comes at them?” a police spokesman said.

Yes, roads are dangerous, fast freeways moreso.  Cars kill, but trucks kill more easily offering less chance of survival for other road users.  When a shoulder on a six laned interstate freeway is designed too narrow to allow safe clearance from high speed traffic, that  freeway shoulder is surely a death trap waiting to happen.

Breakdowns beware?  If a vehicle breaks down it is involuntary.  A driver does not have a choice of continuing on until there is a safe place to pull over, since the vehicle won’t go.

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The truck killing of two pedestrians is reported to have been horrific. Geoffrey Clark was aged in his 40s and reportedly a father of four.  The media have not yet reported the family circumstances of the young woman at the time of publishing today.

Ave atque vale Geoffrey Clark,
Tow Truck Operator,  father-of-four,
and the unidentified standed woman motorist who Geoff dutifully went to assist
(I write that your passings not be in vain)
 

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According to media reports, Geoffrey Clark, every time a stranded motorist would call him for help, Geoffrey Clark would drop everything and race to their aid.  The tow truck company owner and father-of-four was doing exactly that yesterday when he and a female motorist he was helping were run down and killed instantly.

Mr Clark, who operated Highlander Towing, was attending to a broken down Ford sedan in a lane of the Hume Freeway at Mittagong in New South Wales when he was hit by a truck.

The truck driver, from Barnetts courier company (see previous photo of truck ), was taken to hospital with shock.

Distraught employees and friends last night said Mr Clark was a “one in a million” boss who never said no.

“He’d happily go out to help someone in the middle of the night, that’s Geoff,” one employee said. “He was always ready to help, no matter who they were.”

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Highlander Towing – customer testimonies

 

‘Prompt and Friendly Service’

(posted by Mun Lum at Tuesday 26 April 2011)

“Our car broke down in Robertson and the company (NRMA recommended) came out fairly promptly and was very helpful in providing advice on where the car can be towed to and repaired. It was over the Easter long weekend and the workshop was not open so they offered to store it at their place until the workshop opened. Great and friendly service. Thoroughly recommended.”

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‘Highlander Towing’

(posted by Anonymous User at Thursday 30 April 2009)

“Great blokes, Great Service, Highly Recommended”

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‘Highlander Towing’

(posted by R Maclean at Sunday 18 February 2007)

“I got stranded at Sutton Forest having hit a wombat and my car had to be towed. The guys at Highlander were great – they arrived quickly, stored the car in their warehouse and found me a motel at 1.30 am (all in a black out in Mittagong). The next day they arranged for the car to be trucked to Sydney and I caught a lift with the car. The two guys I encountered were nice blokes (Ray and John) – as a lone female I was a little anxious about who was going to turn up at midnight. I needn’t have worried – Ray who went out of his way to be helpful. Thanks for the help guys, it is much appreciated.”

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It was the same fatal stretch of the freeway, which last month claimed the lives of three members of the Logan family in another tragic truck accident.

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RTA meets budget by skimping on safe freeway shoulders

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RTA’s Budget Shoulder Contingency

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The pattern of cost blowouts by the RTA’s Major Infrastructure projects must be legion.   Its failure to factor in inclement weather contingency and the poor operational management of subcontractors are typical excuses for its record of material cost overruns.  But the RTA has long relied upon an internal engineering contingency that enables it to meet the external budget irrespectively.

It works like this – over the lineal distance of a major freeway upgrade project, every metre of widening costs millions.   The multiplier effect of highway/freeway/expressway construction is considerable for every inch that is made wider.  Freeway shoulders represent the extremes of that widening.

So over an entire project if the freeway shoulder width is trimmed, total project costs can be reduced substantially.  So when vague budget cost estimates show signs of blowing out, such freeway shoulders are the contingency that are trimmed in width and thus cost. And who’s going to notice outside RTA internal design engineering?

Voila!  Project on budget and management bonuses paid thank you very much.  But tell that to the families of the two innocent people mentioned above who were yesterday using the RTA’s ‘high standard’ interstate six-laned dual carriage Hume Freeway.

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Narrow freeway shoulders are designed death traps

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But the narrowing of freeway shoulders may save money but compromises safety.  Given that standard truck width is 2.5 metres, all freeway shoulders that are gazetted as designated truck routes for safety reasons need to be designed with at width to safety accommodate a truck of 2.5 metres in width.

The Hume Freeway is one of Australia’s major inter-city highways, running for 880 km between Sydney and Melbourne. It is part of the Auslink National Network and is a vital link for road freight to transport goods to and from the two cities as well as serving Albury-Wodonga and Canberra.  At this section through the New Spouth Wales Southern Highlands, the Hume is a six-laned dual carriageway freeway not a highway, which permits a speed limit of 110kpm, it demands a higher standard of safety design.  There needs to be an added margin of clearance between a stationary vehicle parked on a freeway shoulder and the traffic including trucks doing 110kph.

Clearly, freeway shoulders on such high speed routes need to have a minimum safety width greater than 2.5 metres.

The RTA (TRMS)  is responsible for providing safe freeways to the travelling public and so the RTA the owes all freeway users a general duty of care out of its freeway design including the provision of a safe freeway shoulders.  The RTA exercises control over the Hume Freeway, is responsible for its design including adequate freeway shoulders.

In this case of the tragic deaths of the two people on the Hume Freeway yesterday, the RTA has breached that duty of care by providing an unsafe freeway shoulder both from an occupational perspective in the case of the tow truck operator performing a breakdown operation, as well as to freeway users in general.   The narrow 1.5 metre freeway shoulder created an obvious and unacceptible danger for any vehicle parked on it that measured over 1.5 metres in width, such as the tow truck (at closer to 2.5 metres in length).

It was the same fatal stretch of the freeway which last month claimed the lives of three members of the Logan family in another tragic truck accident.

Great Western Expressway
…the Liberal-Labor Government’s Trucking Expressway Vision for the Blue Mountains
(Note the narrow shoulders)

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The Trucking Expressway Vision – a legacy of Bob Debus MP

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  • Perpetual Four Lanes dividing Blue Mountains communities
  • Narrow Shoulder Death Traps
  • Unmonitored Continuous 80kph, so nudging 90kph
  • Anti-Pedestrian, anti-Schools through towns and villages
  • Anti-Wildlife through so-called ‘World Heritage’
  • All for bigger, longer, faster trucks and more of them

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March 2011:    Truck hit and run of pedestrian on F3 Freeway

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A year ago police were called to investigate the discovery of human remains thought to be those of a male on the F3 Freeway near Somersby on the NSW central coast.
On 1st March 2011, human body parts were found strewn across two lanes in what police suspected of a truck hit and run accident.   Police were reported searching the area near the Gosford off-ramp north of Sydney, after a motorist reported the gruesome find about 11.45pm near midnight.

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Revelations:  1990 ‘NSW Heavy Vehicle Crash Study’ by Monash University

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In 1990, the Australian Federal Office of Road Safety (Canberra) together with the New South Wales Safety Bureau commissioned  a study to examine the cause of crashes involving heavy vehicles in New South Wales between 1988-89 and to suggest countermeasures.

In summary, the findings of the study by the Monash University Accident Research Centre in 1990 found that factors that contributed to producing a severe truck crash environment in NSW included undivided highways of poor standard (including narrow shoulders).  The study’s recommended counter-measures from the study included road improvements (at blackspots, delineation, road shoulders, culvert protection).

Read ‘NSW Heavy Vehicle Crash Study Final Technical Report‘.  (File size:  14MB)

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NSW Government culpability questions to answer:

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  1. What recommendations of the 1990 Monash Report did the RTA implement and where, and not implement and where?
  2. Why does Australia’s possibly busiest national truck route, the Hume, have substandard freeway shoulder widths to allow for a standard truck, let alone allow for a width of necessary safety margin to separate high speed traffic and breakdown vehicles parked in the shoulder?
  3. What is the RTA’s standard procedure for addressing vehicle  breakdowns on the Hume, notably along the Southern Highlands section of the Hume?
  4. If standard procedure was followed in this case by both the NRMA and the towing company, how is the NSW RTA (NSW Transport Road and Marine Services) not liable for breaching its public duty of care and contributing to the tragic deaths of these two freeway users going about their ordinary business?

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Footnote

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‘Families praise pair killed in highway tragedy’

[Source: ‘Families praise pair killed in highway tragedy’, by Lisa Davies, Sydney Morning Herald, 20120217, p.6.^http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/families-praise-pair-killed-in-highway-tragedy-20120216-1tbtf.html] .
‘A tow truck driver and a woman whose car had broken down on the side of the Hume Highway near Mittagong were killed by a passing truck, Wednesday.

Sarah Frazer was finally about to fulfil her dream, which was to study in pursuit of her great passion – photography.
”My car is pretty much all packed up except for my bedlinen and a few loose ends,” the 23-year-old wrote to her aunt on a Facebook page.

But less than 24 hours later, not long after she started out on her ”newest adventure”, she was killed on her way to university in Wagga Wagga.  Her faithful car, brimming with her possessions, had failed her when she needed it most, breaking down along the way.  Ms Frazer and the man who came to her aid on the Hume Highway were both killed instantly on Wednesday when a truck failed to see them until it was too late.  A tow-truck driver and well regarded southern highlands local, Geoff Clark, had rushed to Ms Frazer’s aid when her car broke down on a narrow stretch of the highway, about two kilometres from Mittagong.

Her car could fit only partly in the road’s shoulder, and the two were trying to prepare it for towing.  It is believed the truck driver may simply have seen the two vehicles too late.

Ms Frazer, from Springwood in the Blue Mountains and a former student at St Columba’s High School, was described yesterday as ”a truly amazing person”.

”A world traveller, fearless, funny, kind, strong willed, bright and beautiful,” her aunt Kristina wrote on Facebook.

”She was my niece and my friend. I will miss her terribly.”

Another relative described his family’s grief on such a ”very sad day”, saying his ”beautiful, intelligent cousin” had died ”on her way to start a new life” at university.

Police are investigating the crash and the truck driver is assisting with inquiries.  The driver was treated for shock at Bowral Hospital.

Mr Clark, a father of four young boys aged 8 to 14, was hailed as a good Samaritan for stopping on the dangerous strip of the highway and volunteering to drive Ms Frazer to Wagga Wagga.

Inspector Mark Wall, from Bowral police, who knew Mr Clark, said he was ”a hard worker and a good bloke”.  He had been a truck driver for most of his life before starting his own towing business eight years ago.  His widow, Sam, told reporters: ”He was a very caring husband. Thoughtful, just the best really … he did all that he could do to be safe.”

Sarah Frazer
Ed:  Too young.  It is not right.  Our highways and freeways need to be safer.

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References

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[1]   ‘Two killed as truck hits breakdown operation on highway‘, by Alicia Wood, 20120215, ^http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/two-killed-as-truck-hits-breakdown-operation-on-highway-20120215-1t5lm.html

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[2]   ‘Two killed in Hume Highway tragedy near Mittagong‘, by Clementine Cuneo, Police Reporter,  The Daily Telegraph, 20120215, ^http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/two-killed-in-hume-hwy-smash/story-fnb5f12x-1226271751142

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[3]   ‘Two killed in crash near Mittagong‘, SkyNews, 20120215, ^http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=718772&vId=

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[4]  ‘Man dies on road as he came to woman’s rescue‘, The Daily Telegraph, 20120216, ^http://www.news.com.au/national/man-dies-on-road-as-he-came-to-womans-rescue/story-e6frfkvr-1226272184058

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[5]   Highlander Towing Pty Limited, ^http://www.thesouthernhighlands.com.au/directory/travel/couriers/highlander-towing

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[6]   ‘Human remains scattered on F3: police suspect hit and run‘, by Stephanie Gardiner, 20110302, ^http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/human-remains-scattered-on-f3-police-suspect-hit-and-run-20110302-1bdjb.html

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[7]  ‘Heavy Vehicle Crash Study Final Technical Report‘, Monash, ^http://www.monash.edu.au/miri/research/reports/atsb092.pdf

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Integral Energy’s Tree Savagery

Sunday, November 28th, 2010


‘Around 800,000 families and businesses trust Integral Energy to provide a reliable power supply backed up by quality service and value for money.’  [www.integral.com.au]

What a joke! Last month [October 2010] it was revealed that while New South Wales power consumers are being charged record high power bills, Integral Energy is offering Victorians and Queenslanders electricity at rates up to 30 % cheaper.  And yet Integral Energy is New South Wales Government-owned, that is owned by New South Wales residents and taxpayers.

The article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper reads:

‘An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found that EnergyAustralia and Integral Energy are selling discounted power interstate to increase their market share before they are privatised.

‘In a betrayal of struggling NSW families, customers of the two companies in Victoria and Queensland can save as much as $250 a year on power bills through  deals not available in NSW, the paper says.   EnergyAustralia charges NSW customers with higher consumption levels 50 per cent more than similar customers in the Citipower distribution network in Victoria.

‘It also offers Victorians discounts of 10 per cent – twice as much as in NSW.   Integral Energy is offering customers in Queensland a flat rate that saves the typical household about $112.  The discounts are due to more efficient energy markets interstate – particularly in Victoria, where the industry is fully privatised. Similar reforms in NSW were scuttled by the union movement.’

[Source: ‘NSW residents face power bill ‘rip-off’, AAP, 10-Oct-2010, http://au.news.yahoo.com/local/nsw/a/-/local/8104685/nsw-residents-face-power-bill-rip-off/]

At the same time,  according to the Daily Telegraph again, Integral Energy boss, Vince Graham earns a salary of $592,605 plus an annual bonus of $107,356, thanks very much.

‘Energy company bosses have been awarded annual bonuses worth millions of dollars this year after hitting NSW families with record electricity and gas bills.   Thousands of low-income households have been crippled by electricity price rises of 30 per cent since July last year but energy executives have cashed in by collecting huge pay packets.

‘The biggest amounts were paid to private companies, but figures obtained by The Sunday Telegraph before the release of the latest annual reports show State Government-owned electricity retailers also handed bonuses of hundreds of thousands of dollars to bosses.

‘…The news will be hard to swallow for taxpayers who continue to be hit by the biggest energy price hikes from NSW Government-owned agencies who have won permission to sharply raise prices in recent years from IPART, the industry price regulator.   Figures show the average family with EnergyAustralia has seen their bills increase by $475.28 a year since 2008; Integral Energy is up by $487.76 a year and Country Energy customers have seen a massive $587.08 increase.

‘Industry analysts and comparison websites say customers have been leaving the state-owned retailers in droves. “We have had at least 15,000 people leaving the state-owned companies for other retailers,” said one comparison site spokesman.’

[Source: ‘Energy bosses raking in millions’, by Nick Gardner, Daily Telergraph, 3-Oct-2010, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sunday-telegraph/energy-bosses-raking-in-millions/story-e6frewt0-1225933264594]
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Integral Energy’s deforestation legacy

Not only is Integral Energy one of Australia’s top dirtiest emitters of greenhouse gases from its reliance on coal fired power stations, but it is a key contributor to deforestation through its indiscriminate killing of forests to make way for its power line corridors.


Integral Energy carves many hundreds of kilometres
through high conservation value Blue Mountains World Heritage for its transmission lines.
(Photo by Editor, 6-Jan-2007, free in public domain.)
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Rather than follow existing road corridors and place power safely underground to overt the risk from bushfires, Integral Energy doesn’t care about conservation values and just bulldozes and chainsaws its way through World Heritage.  The planners back at head office just get the map out and rule a line trough the forest – the shortest and cheapest distance between two points.   To them they don’t care that on the ground their lines on the map translate to carving through sensitive riparian habitat, swamps, threatened flora and fauna habitat.

Integral Energy power corridors are typically 100 metres across and carve
indiscriminately through valley and hilltop.
(Photo by Editor, 6-Jan-2007, free in public domain.)
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Integral Energy falsely proclaims in its motto ‘the power is in your hands‘.  But it is a power unto its own.  It’s destructive environmental actions are protected under State legislation that enable it to indiscriminately destroy any vegetation it considers in its way for power lines.  Individuals and communities have been made legally powerless to contest anything that Integral Energy wants to do when it comes to destroying native forests.

Integral Energy in name may think of itself as being ‘an essential part‘ of the energy needs of New South Wales, but has no integrity in environmental respect and conservation.

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Overhead power cables perpetuate ugly streetscapes

Throughout urban settlements, Integral Energy perpetuates a 20th Century practice of overhead powerlines, instead of sensibly placing its power safely underground.  Underground power is out of harms way – away from the risk of traffic collision, away from the risk of high winds and bushfires, and out of sight.  Integral Energy and its baby boomer board are stuck in 20th Century thinking.  They act as if they have a god-given right as a public utility to do what they please and bugger the bush and bugger the community in the process.

Integral Energy’s legacy in Parke Street Katoomba.
The trunk heart of this mature tree has been savagely chainsawed.
(Photo by editor 27-Nov-2010, free in public domain).
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Active Tree Services

Integral Energy outsources its tree savagery to the likes of what the industry likes to call ‘arborists‘, which is just a euphemistic highfalutin label for anyone who can rip-start a chainsaw and has a contempt for trees.

Active Tree Services is one such outfit and they reap havoc not just across New South Wales, but across all six states of Australia.   They boas on their website to be “Australia’s largest provider of arboriculture services for energy authorities“.    ‘Arboriculture’ – what?  Is that like a garbologist?

On paper, Active Tree Services claims it adheres to ethical values and adheres to a ‘behaviours model’:

  • ‘commit to achieving higher output’
  • ‘consider, involve and develop our people’
  • ‘actively manage our own and our customers’ risks to lowest practical level’
  • ‘promote and encourage learning’
  • ‘always provide value.’

Yep. Sounds all about building business and profit;  but nothing to do with respecting environmental and community values.   Just another mob who can rip-start a chainsaw and who have a contempt for trees and profit in the process.   The editor discovered the depth of integrity of Active Tree Services last week after it illegally trespassed on private property to lop the trunks of a number of trees, without permission.  the trees were well away from the overhead power lines.  Previously, the company representative had agreed to only to lop two trees underneath the powerlines on the verge.  Clearly this promise was deliberately misleading and deceitful.  One arrived home to the shock to find every tree in the front garden with its trunk severed.  This is excessive and wanton tree hatred.

And Active Tree Services has the gall to claim it is “a leader in the vegetation management industry, we accept our responsibility as a good corporate citizen to minimise our impact on the environment.”  What crap!   Take a look at its carbon footprint through the Blue Mountains in streetscapes of Katoomba and Blackheath!   It thinks vegetation management is about ‘recycling vegetation’ – chainsawing trees into mulch so it can sell it back to its government clients and make more profit.

What the hell does being accredited by SAI Global to AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management actually mean?  Paying an annual fee to have work practices documented in lever arch files?  What a joke!

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Tree lopping is environmental vandalism

‘Tree lopping is indiscriminate and mismanaged removal and destruction of a trees natural crown and structure. In it’s severe form, lopping involves the total removal of the tree’s canopy, leaving nothing except stubs.’

‘Tree lopping is premised on the misguided fear that during storms trees will fall on houses.   Other typical excuses include to make the tree shorter and safer, to allow for views, and to allow sunlight through to the pool, clothes line etc.’

‘In the majority of instances, the work is performed by contractors who either “Don’t know any better” or who find lopping most profitable for themselves regardless of the consequences to customers and trees.’

‘Some trees when lopped severley, or at the wrong time of year, may never recover and die. The remaining end of the stub will not callus over and the exposed tissue will be vulnerable to decay and rotting caused by fungi, bacteria, insects, water and sunscald. The stubs become pathways for pathogens to enter and spread into the part of the tree to where they’re attached.’

‘Lopping a tree can destroy its natural form and stability. Lopping a tree creates an ongoing problem and expense because the weaker new growth often needs repeated pruning to keep from growing out of control. Restoring its structural integrity and beauty is extremely difficult, or impossible. Standard Pruning and care of your trees keeps them safer, and saves you money.’

‘Lopping violates Australian Standard (AS4373) on Pruning of Amenity Trees.’


[Source:  http://www.palmtreeservices.com.au/stoplop.html]

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Integral lops tree just before it fell on house

Back in October 2007,  large Eucalypt fell through the roof of a small weatherboard house in Farnell Street, Katoomba.
 
The local Blue Mountains Gazette reported ‘Katoomba’s Molly Keenan earned herself the nickname “Lucky” last week after coming out unscathed when a large tree toppled onto her living room ceiling.  …The tree collapsed on the Farnells Road home during strong winds last Wednesday, leaving the house in an uninhabitable condition.’   [Source:  ‘Molly’s lucky home escape’, by Shane Desiatnik, Blue Mountains Gazette, 24-Oct-2010]..
 
What the journalist failed to report, which was confirmed to the editor personally by Molly herself, was that only weeks prior, Integral Energy had taken it upon themselves to lop off a significantly large branch from the tree, causing the tree to become unstable.  After that, the tree was vulnerable to northerly winds.
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Take Action!

The are a few ways residents can take action against unscrupulous companies like Integral Energy and the damage it continues to inflict on communities and our natural environment.

1.  Switch away from Integral Energy for your electricity needs.  Visit www.GoSwitch.com.au which is ‘a free price comparison service that finds you the cheapest electricity or gas plan in your area‘.

2. Write a letter of complaint to your local State Government politician (local member).  In the Blue Mountains  currently this is Mr Phil Koperberg MP, 132 Macquarie Road, Springwood NSW 2777.   However, Koperberg has said he is retiring at the State election in March 2011, and there it is widely anticipated that there will be a change of government at that time.

3. Write a letter of complaint to your local newspaper.  Across the Blue Mountains this is The Blue Mountains Gazette.  Visit the website.

4. Write a letter of complaint to the NSW Minister for Energy, to whom Integral Energy is accountable.   Currently this is Paul Lynch M.P, NSW Minister for Energy, Governor Macquarie Tower, Level 34, 1  Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000.

5. If you find the likes of  Active Tree Services lopping your trees, give then a frigid hosing down and tell them to bugger off.

6.  Follow up with a letter of complaint to Active Tree Services programme director, Greg Fitzgerald at 51 Huntingwood Drive Huntingwood NSW 2148, Email: enquiries@activetreeservices.com.au

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Call to lobby against overhead cables

The convenient 20th Century government culture  of erecting overhead cables and powerlines is over.

We’re now in the 21st Century and environmental and community social values trump pure economic cost savings mindsets.

We all know the power companies make millions at our expense and pay their executives exorbitant fees.  Their pious excuses that underground cabling is too expensive is blatant and hollow propaganda solely to protect their own selfish pay packets.

Overhead cabling must end.

  • Overhead Cabling is environmentally destructive
  • Overhead Cabling perpetuates recurrent costs of tree lopping
  • Overhead Cabling destroys the amenity and aesthetic values of leafy suburbs
  • Overhead Cabling is unsightly
  • Overhead Cabling is costly to maintain
  • Overhead Cabling puts essential power supply at the mercy of the elements in times of high wind and lighting strikes
  • Overhead Cabling is unsafe whenever work is required near power lines – many men have died from electrocution!
  • Overhead Cabling perpetuates a dodgy ‘arborist’ industry

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Underground Cables not Underhand Bonuses!

This editor has put his money where his mouth is and invested $3000 in cabling his power and phone lines from the street to his house underground.

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Related Articles:

[1]  Attack of the Mutant Half-Trees

If you’ve driven down Markham Ave., or Broad St., or Urban Ave., or Club Blvd. recently, perhaps you’ve seen the latest addition to the neighborhood — the unsightly, deformed remnants of oak trees after an unfortunately, but certainly not chance, encounter with contractors working for Duke Power:

Markham_ecampus

Yes, our good friends at the local utility are at it again, cutting back street trees to “ensure an acceptable level of service” (read: to keep branches from taking out electrical service lines to houses.)

Read More:  http://www.bullcityrising.com/2007/07/attack-of-the-m.html

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[2]    Vigilantes threaten rough justice on aerial NBN cables

‘Senior members of a national lobby for underground cabling claim to have received threats from angry residents that they will tear down any NBN cables hung overhead in their streets.    The group, Cables Underground, said it “does not advocate violence” and had attempted to counsel irate callers.

But it warned “these are only the ones with whom we come in contact” and said there were likely others that would escape its counseling and potentially vandalise an aerial rollout.

It is highly predictable there will be a substantial electoral backlash,” the assistant secretary of Cables Downunder, Greg Bleazard, said in a submission [PDF] to the Senate Select Committee for the NBN.

“One [caller] threatened to attach a beam and hook to a heavy truck and to drive it down the street tearing down any cables he comes across.

“Others have threatened to throw a hook over the cable and to then pull it down with the aid of a four wheel drive.”

Earlier today, iTnews reported on a community group in Sydney’s inner west that warned the Government against a repeat of Optus’ hybrid fibre coaxial cable rollout in 1995.

The Haberfield Association successfully prevented Optus from stringing up aerial HFC cables in the suburb.   Cables Downunder said it coordinated the actions of independent community groups in the Sydney metropolitan area during the Optus rollout, but had since expanded its scope to become a national lobbyist.

Much of its work was cooperative and “behind the scenes” with local government authorities, Bleazard said.’

[Source: ‘Vigilantes threaten rough justice on aerial NBN cables’, by Ry Crozier, IT News, 26-Aug-2009, http://www.itnews.com.au/News/153968,vigilantes-threaten-rough-justice-on-aerial-nbn-cables.aspx]
 
 
 
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[3]    Saving Our Trees

A Community Tree Watch Group – working to protect healthy public trees from inappropriate removal.

 
Visit: http://savingourtrees.wordpress.com/tag/significant-tree-register/]
 
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[4]  Wild storm leaves 50,000 homes without power’  (23-Mar-2010)

‘At the height of the destruction last night  up to 150,000 homes across the city were without power, but crews have worked throughout the night and today to restore power.

Western Power is currently attending to 110 powerlines on the ground and over 350 hazards, restoration work is carrying on in parallell with this work.’

 
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wild-weather-leaves-100000-without-power/story-e6frg12c-1225844150977
 
 
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[5]   Truck brings down power lines at South Road, Ridleyton  (22-Nov-2010)

‘Traffic on South Rd will be delayed until tomorrow after a truck brought down high-power electrical lines at Ridleyton this morning.   The road is closed between Torrens Rd and Port Rd because about 200m of power line is lying across the road and on at least two buildings.   The truck clipped a power pole about 10.30am which caused brought down the lines and caused two other power poles to bend.   One pole fell to the ground in a vacant block between two houses.’

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/truck-brings-down-power-lines-at-south-road-ridleyton/story-e6frea83-1225958387004

 

 
 
 
 

[6] Integral Energy Tree Lopping Sparks Residents Ire

‘A Bargo resident has expressed anger and disbelief at tree-lopping activities carried out by Integral Energy at the end of September.

The power company lopped the tops off several trees beneath power lines in Bargo as part of routine procedures.

But Marcel Schondelmaier (pictured), a Bargo resident and retired electrical contractor, said Integral Energy staff had gone too far.

“They cut at least a 3m clearance under the 240V wires before we requested them to desist as we keep a sufficient clearance at all times,” he said. “Tree lopping should be carried out during the winter months wherever possible, not in spring when birds are nesting.”

Mr Schondelmaier worked in the power industry for more than 30 year. He said the distance needed to prevent electricity jumping from powerlines to an object needed to be only 30cm, and that was for up to 12,000 volts, not 240.

An Integral Energy spokesman said the Bargo trees were cut to the required standard.

“Minimum safety clearances between vegetation and powerlines is defined by NSW Industry Safety Steering Committee guidelines and is determined by factors including the voltage of overhead cables, the type of overhead cable and the length of spans between poles,” he said. “Trees underneath a high-voltage powerline require a minimum clearance of 3m and a further 0.5m if they are in a bushfire-prone area like Bargo.”

[Source: http://macarthur-chronicle-wollondilly.whereilive.com.au/news/story/integral-energy-tree-lopping-sparks-resident-s-ire/]

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Then on 15th December 2010, the NSW Government secretly sold Integral Energy to Origin Energy

Origin Energy is set to emerge as the most significant force in the national electricity market after outlaying more than $3 billion for control of two of the state’s three largest power retailers: Integral Energy and Country Energy.  This will catapult Origin to more than 45 per cent of the NSW retail electricity market, and more than a third of the national electricity market, ranking it as the largest player.  Integral has 700,000 retail electricity customers, and Country Energy has 693,000 customers.”     [Source: ‘Origin vaults to the top in power sector‘ by Brian Robins, Sydney Morning Herald,  20101215]

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So now New South Wales residents have only three suppliers of electricity – Origin Energy (45% share) ,TruEnergy which has bought EnergyAustralia (42% share) and AGL with the remaining 10% share.

Who can we trust now?
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– End of article –

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