Sharing The Roads With Large Vehicles

From time to time you will encounter large vehicles travelling on Marlborough’s regional roads. The wide loads may be winery tanks, heavy vehicles or buildings being moved.

The transport of large loads is governed by the law and there are certain conditions that must be met to ensure that this is done safely.

A large load that has an OVERSIZE sign attached to it and is accompanied by a pilot vehicle will often be taking up more than its own lane. Please slow down to ensure that you can pass safely.

If you encounter more than one pilot vehicle accompanying a load, this tells you that the oversize load is very big and you should be ready for their instruction to slow or stop.

If the pilot vehicles have purple and amber lights, you should be prepared to stop as it will be a very large load following.

Watch for signals from the pilot vehicles.

Pilot vehicles travelling with the load will signal other road users to slow, stop and park in areas where it is safe to do so. It is important to follow their instructions.

If the pilot vehicle displays the hand held “Stop Sign” you are required by law to stop and obey any instructions that are given.

The drivers of the pilot vehicles will signal you to stop with a hand-held Stop sign, a red flag or with a red torch.

A rear pilot vehicle trailing a load will display a warning sign. You may overtake only if the driver of the rear pilot vehicle waves you through.