Amenities at rest stops.

Possum3 · Guru

Amenities at rest stops.

hufnpuf · Senior Member

It's the cost of installation and maintenance of so many over such a large area. To make a long drop, they have to make a deep hole, they have to transport the drill out to wherever. It costs a fair bit just to have a bore sunk in the suburbs, it would cost a lot to transport the equipment and the workers out to "the middle of nowhere". There's no mains water just to hook a loo up to.
Then there's maintenance. Some people are pigs and mess up public toilets for everyone else. Sending people a distance to check and fix things is also expensive.
I can understand why it's an issue.
Can they fit a porta potty in a truck cab? Not ideal, and you'd have the pain in the neck of emptying, but better than being caught short somewhere.
As somebody who needs quick access to toilets, I sympathise. I like having my new caravan with the bathroom, I can stop and I have the facilities available to me.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

It seems the more populous states have highways with the better facilities yet the others go without. Some roads don't have any facilities at all - they might have a spot where a truckie can have a rest break but that's all.
I'm certain that if state transport Ministers travelled their highways once a year that there would be a lot of improvements made but no, they haven't time, they prefer to fly from A-B, etc.

Yes, there is a cost - everything costs! But what about road safety? With the closure of rail transport for normal essential freight, the trucks have do the heavy carrying of our every day use items. Don't our truckies deserve the same facilities, regardless as to where they drive?

RickJ · Senior Member

A view from just an average motorist who has his or her own work health and safety conditions clearly laid out in regulation, would be that the truckie is doing his job with work standards well below what any other employee might have to endure at any time.
From what I believe these truck drivers are forced by regulation to stop after a time period as well. I guess they find a way to excrete their own waste into the environment.

I completely agree with Warren above

I'm certain that if state transport Ministers travelled their highways once a year that there would be a lot of improvements made but no, they haven't time, they prefer to fly from A-B, etc.

Mike Harding · Guru

I'm sure that fitting trucks, over a certain size, with a small toilet, basin and holding tank would be neither expensive nor difficult. However, without doubt, it will need to be legislated in order to happen.

RickJ · Senior Member

Mike Harding wrote:
I'm sure that fitting trucks, over a certain size, with a small toilet, basin and holding tank would be neither expensive nor difficult. However, without doubt, it will need to be legislated in order to happen.

If it happened then at least the truckie would have the same option as a caravanner or motor homa with a bathroom as standard.

Maybe all motorists should carry a Porta Pottie, a container of water and a transportable collapsible privacy screen or tent should they need to travel along the kilometres of roads with next to no facilities.

Maybe a truckie might come in in this and tell us if there is toilets in some trucks or at least the option to fit one.

Cuppa · Guru

Possum3 wrote:

I find it incredulous that a State the size of WA has only 144 Public toilets at rest stops - It's little wonder that the countryside has crap and toilet paper every where.

The first time we really noticed this problem to a large extent was when we first crossed the Nullarbor. We had out own toilet in our bus, but were well aware that many folk without RV's & space to carry a toilet needed to use this main highway between Perth & the eastern states. Large distances between 'settlements , with plenty of well used roadside rest stops, but not one with a toilet & as described, crap & paper everywhere. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, & hanging on until the next roadhouse is often not possible.

This was almost 15 years ago, & it sounds like not much has changed. On the RV forums of the day there were plenty of self righteous motorhome & caravan travellers with on board facilities ready & willing to criticise the 'grubs' who had left the mess arguing that everyone should carry a toilet with them for such journeys & failing to understand that with a full car load of people & luggage there was often insufficient space for portable toilets, even if those people even considered there may be no toilets before departing. No excuse for not incorporating the costs of providing & servicing the bare essentials into the mix when major roads are being built.

Sounds like little has changed.

dogbox · Guru

i have seen two up, long-haul trucks with holes cut under the passenger seat that need to be steam cleaned before mechanics will work on them.

hufnpuf · Senior Member

Cuppa wrote:
but not one with a toilet & as described, crap & paper everywhere. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, & hanging on until the next roadhouse is often not possible.

Sure, but having to go doesn't mean you have to leave a mess. You can crap into a garbage bag, you can get little folding toilet seats which hold a bag from the camping shops and they take up very little room. You can poo into a hole and cover it over and put the paper in a garbage bag and take it away. I pick up my dog poo in a plastic bag and take it to a rubbish bin, people should be capable of doing the same thing for themselves.

I NEED toilets (medical issues) but I don't expect to find them with the same frequency in the remote north of WA or on the nullarbor as I do in the suburbs of a city. I am lucky now to have my toilet in the caravan, but that doesn't mean that everyone else can have that luxury. Just don't leave a mess if you have to go en plein air. Like any other waste, take it with you.

yobarr · Guru

dogbox wrote:
i have seen two up, long-haul trucks with holes cut under the passenger seat that need to be steam cleaned before mechanics will work on them.

I am being understanding please what you are being saying, and I also am being told please by these mechanics that much of the resultant residue has a distinct curry smell.

Saves losing time not only while actually stationary, but it also takes a long time to stop multi-trailer combinations, and even longer to get them up to speed again. Cheers

-- Edited by yobarr on Sunday 23rd of April 2023 01:16:55 PM

Bobdown · Guru

Cuppa wrote:
The first time we really noticed this problem to a large extent was when we first crossed the Nullarbor. We had out own toilet in our bus, but were well aware that many folk without RV's & space to carry a toilet needed to use this main highway between Perth & the eastern states. Large distances between 'settlements , with plenty of well used roadside rest stops, but not one with a toilet & as described, crap & paper everywhere. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, & hanging on until the next roadhouse is often not possible.
This was almost 15 years ago, & it sounds like not much has changed. On the RV forums of the day there were plenty of self righteous motorhome & caravan travellers with on board facilities ready & willing to criticise the 'grubs' who had left the mess arguing that everyone should carry a toilet with them for such journeys & failing to understand that with a full car load of people & luggage there was often insufficient space for portable toilets, even if those people even considered there may be no toilets before departing. No excuse for not incorporating the costs of providing & servicing the bare essentials into the mix when major roads are being built.
Sounds like little has changed.

There are a few more toilets at Rest Areas on the WA side Cuppa, but some of the 'Grubs' that use them and the dump points need to improve their aim.

In fact some of them should be made to clean up after themselves. SA side of the Nullarbor is lacking facilities, slow to act, a bit like they were to seal the road on their side as well.

Cheers Bob

Cuppa · Guru

Bobdown wrote:
There are a few more toilets at Rest Areas on the WA side Cuppa, but some of the 'Grubs' that use them and the dump points need to improve their aim.
In fact some of them should be made to clean up after themselves. SA side of the Nullarbor is lacking facilities, slow to act, a bit like they were to seal the road on their side as well.

Good to hear it's improved a bit. I was never happy with folk being labelled as grubs, when there were no facilities out there, but there is no excuse for making a mess in facilities intended for all & just leaving it. There are some very selfish & angry people who walk among us.

dogbox · Guru

yobarr wrote:

dogbox wrote:
i have seen two up, long-haul trucks with holes cut under the passenger seat that need to be steam cleaned before mechanics will work on them.
I am being understanding please what you are being saying, and I also am being told please by these mechanics that much of the resultant residue has a distinct curry smell.
Saves losing time not only while actually stationary, but it also takes a long time to stop multi-trailer combinations, and even longer to get them up to speed again. Cheers

-- Edited by yobarr on Sunday 23rd of April 2023 01:16:55 PM

i am thinking maybe, you have come across this situation in your travels.

Whenarewethere · Guru

yobarr wrote:
dogbox wrote:
i have seen two up, long-haul trucks with holes cut under the passenger seat that need to be steam cleaned before mechanics will work on them.
I am being understanding please what you are being saying, and I also am being told please by these mechanics that much of the resultant residue has a distinct curry smell.

There are brick & mortar toilets around Sydney that not only need steam cleaning. The mortar has gone & the kiln fired bricks have a high percentage of corrosion.

I don't get it why certain elements of society feel the need to point anywhere other than the designated target!

yobarr · Guru

dogbox wrote:

i am thinking maybe, you have come across this situation in your travels.

Sorry to disappoint, but the only experience I have with this practice is the information supplied by the mechanics in the workshop we used when I was running up and down the East Coast. Seems to be a problem with a certain company's drivers who run the Nullarbor. Again I will say that this all is second-hand information, but I have no reason to doubt it. Cheers

Mein · Senior Member

When defecating in the bush, or anywhere other than a conventional toilet, toilet paper should not be used to wipe away / clean up one's body but should be used as a barrier between the particular body part and one's clothing until regular ablution facilities can be used. That is to say, in such circumstances, toilet paper should be used in the same way and for similar function as sanitary pads.

According to one statistical website, the percentage of women who regularly use sanitary pads (rather than tampons) ranges from a low of 47% in Queensland to a high of 52% in NSW. I couldn't find any statistics for panty liner use or incontinence pad use but, suffice to say, a significant percentage of Australians are quite used to some form of 'insert' in their underwear.

As with all issues of human behaviour, education is key.

As an aside, I don't use toilet paper, period. Far more 'experts' say that cleaning with water is more effective, more hygienic and more environmentally friendly than using toilet paper.

It is reported that only 30% of the world's population use toilet paper.

Installing a 'sprayer' (known as bum guns in Asia) is an easy and inexpensive undertaking in both houses and caravans.

Cuppa · Guru

hufnpuf wrote:
Cuppa wrote:
but not one with a toilet & as described, crap & paper everywhere. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go, & hanging on until the next roadhouse is often not possible.
Sure, but having to go doesn't mean you have to leave a mess. You can crap into a garbage bag, you can get little folding toilet seats which hold a bag from the camping shops and they take up very little room. You can poo into a hole and cover it over and put the paper in a garbage bag and take it away. I pick up my dog poo in a plastic bag and take it to a rubbish bin, people should be capable of doing the same thing for themselves.
I NEED toilets (medical issues) but I don't expect to find them with the same frequency in the remote north of WA or on the nullarbor as I do in the suburbs of a city. I am lucky now to have my toilet in the caravan, but that doesn't mean that everyone else can have that luxury. Just don't leave a mess if you have to go en plein air. Like any other waste, take it with you.

Couldn't agree with you more hufnpuf, & I am in much the same boat as you medically unfortunately. What I do think would be sensible on drives like crossing the Nullarbor would be signs saying 'No toilets for X kms, be prepared, because I am sure that for many it is not something they think about until 'nature calls'.

Mariner30 · Senior Member

I drove trucks for 30 years around central and northern Victoria,
Occasional Sin City overnight runs

Never in WA,

I find the suggestions about holes in truck cabin floors and or porta potties hilarious!

Just build more dunnies, with water tanks beside them...solar panels etc etc.

Get Elon Musk on the dunny case!

hufnpuf · Senior Member

Cuppa wrote:
I am sure that for many it is not something they think about until 'nature calls'.

True and then they might be able to "hold it" until something comes along. For those who do think about it in advance, there's a public toilet map online you can look up and see where the loos are.

yobarr · Guru

Mariner30 wrote:
I drove trucks for 30 years around central and northern Victoria,
Occasional Sin City overnight runs

Never in WA,

I find the suggestions about holes in truck cabin floors and or porta potties hilarious!

Just build more dunnies, with water tanks beside them . solar panels etc.

Get Elon Musk on the dunny case!

Who would pay for this?

And just who do you think would travel many hundreds of kilometres each day to service these facilities?

Already I can hear the bleaters screaming "There was no toilet paper", quite likely nicked by some tight Rs traveller.

You'd need a HUGE roof to catch enough water for a constant supply.

With the theft likely of anything not concreted in these days, I wonder how long it would be before someone saw the Solar panels and decided that they'd look very good on the roof of their van. Traffic is VERY light "in the bush" so there'd be plenty of time to flog them.

Perhaps a large concrete culvert pipe, with a door cut into one side, standing on end, and a basic toilet seat atop a deep hole in the ground would work?

Maybe not ideal but it may minimise the number of piles of human waste littering rest areas on our roads. Cheers

ANYONE SEEN THE TOILET PAPER,OR THE DOOR?

-- Edited by yobarr on Monday 24th of April 2023 12:49:33 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

yobarr wrote:
I wonder how long it would be before someone saw the Solar panels and decided that they'd look very good on the roof of their van.

Sometimes lateral thinking works well.

Some years past when solar panels were very expensive a certain public body had problems caused by people with angle grinders cutting down the steel pole and taking the solar panel.

They solved the issue by making the poles much taller such that when the pole toppled it was too heavy to control and fell to ground smashing the solar panel.

I thought that was very clever :)

yobarr · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
yobarr wrote:
I wonder how long it would be before someone saw the Solar panels and decided that they'd look very good on the roof of their van.
Sometimes lateral thinking works well.
Some years past when solar panels were very expensive a certain public body had problems caused by people with angle grinders cutting down the steel pole and taking the solar panel.
They solved the issue by making the poles much taller such that when the pole toppled it was too heavy to control and fell to ground smashing the solar panel.
I thought that was very clever :)

Yes Mike, a definite "Lose, Lose" situation. Now nobody has the benefit of a working Solar panel! Cheers

Mike Harding · Guru

Well... the thefts did, of course, stop once the thieves realised there was no benefit to them - I assumed that would be obvious to readers.

Mariner30 · Senior Member

yobarr wrote:
Mariner30 wrote:
I drove trucks for 30 years around central and northern Victoria,
Occasional Sin City overnight runs

Never in WA,

I find the suggestions about holes in truck cabin floors and or porta potties hilarious!

Just build more dunnies, with water tanks beside them . solar panels etc.

Get Elon Musk on the dunny case!
Who would pay for this?

The local councils/ State govt...if on a national highway, then the feds can chuck some dollars too.

Doen't have to be a huge structure to catch enough water to flush a couple of dunnies.
I'm thinking of one on the hume highway that is as basic as a modern dunny can get and it has a very small roof area.

Who would maitain it?
The same folk who maintain the road surface now...put some new fangled electronic rain gauge thing to let some desk jockey in Perth or where ever that the water tank is getting low and then the real workers take a couple of IBG tanks with them,

Plenty of money in WA,
Spend some on more basic services...like dunnies...where there is the need.

It ain't rocket surgery.

Mike Harding · Guru

Frankly, given many of the public toilets I have seen over the years, I far prefer the cleanliness and privacy of digging a hole in the bush.

dogbox · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:

Frankly, given many of the public toilets I have seen over the years, I far prefer the cleanliness and privacy of digging a hole in the bush.

the issue is people are generally to lazy or not that concerned as who comes next .as far as actually digging a hole, unless staying at location for a while, most would not bother.
most of the roadside amenities are in such a state that one would have to be desperate to use them.

yobarr · Guru

Mariner30 wrote:
yobarr wrote:
Mariner30 wrote:
I drove trucks for 30 years around central and northern Victoria,
Occasional Sin City overnight runs

Never in WA,

I find the suggestions about holes in truck cabin floors and or porta potties hilarious!

Just build more dunnies, with water tanks beside them . solar panels etc.

Get Elon Musk on the dunny case!
Who would pay for this?

The local councils/ State govt...if on a national highway, then the feds can chuck some dollars too.
Yeah, no worries eh! And where do "the Feds" get this money from? The money tree already has all sorts of bludgers feeding from it, and is about to collapse. So many "gimme, gimmes" and too few tax payers, but we won't go there.
Doen't have to be a huge structure to catch enough water to flush a couple of dunnies.
I'm thinking of one on the hume highway that is as basic as a modern dunny can get and it has a very small roof area.
"A very small roof area" you suggest. Did you not see the size of the roof area in the photo I supplied? And this was only to catch water for emergency use by travellers. Many outback areas have little rain, and huge roof areas are needed, as per my picture, not to mention huge tanks.
"Hume highway" you mention, but I can't imagine there being any probkem there as towns are only a hop, step and a jump apart.
Who would maitain it?
The same folk who maintain the road surface now ...put some new fangled electronic rain gauge thing to let some desk jockey in Perth or where ever that the water tank is getting low and then the real workers take a couple of IBG tanks with them,
Surely you don't think/believe that these road workers can cover every kilometre of every road every day? And I'm pretty sure that their job description would not include "cleaning up human waste deposited carelessly by thoughtless travellers". The unions would not be impressed.
IBG water tanks?
Plenty of money in WA,
Spend some on more basic services...like dunnies...where there is the need.
For heaven's sake, it's not as simple as "spending money". The logistics apparently are beyond your comprehension. Where does this water come from? Where do these workers reside? Distances are vast and by the time these workers had arrived at the crapper to be cleaned that day it would be time to turn around and head back to camp. Economically unviable I'm afraid!
Far better to teach travellers to dig a hole, or carry a plastic bag. Crap on a couple of sheets of paper, roll paper up, put into plastic bag, seal said bag and dispose of responsibly. Easy stuff, and nothing to bleat about.
It ain't rocket surgery.
Could you perhaps explain what "Rocket surgery" is, as I have never heard of it. Cheers

RickJ · Senior Member

Most people get by doing natural things as nature and god intended.

These natural occurrences arent that welcome in big cities country towns and most populated public areas however when out and about in the red dirt with a kangaroo or a snake might be the only audience, then away you (we) go.

If this is uncomfortable as it is as we or I get older, then there is equipment we can get unless as was described to me by a truck driver who told me he used to just sit on the draw bar of the dolly and in his words, *Let Er Go*

Those without a dolly in tow could get something similar to this.

https://www.outbackequipment.com.au/elemental-thunder-down-under?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17873240366&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpbvrlu_B_gIVzENgCh0XZgQLEAQYBSABEgI-kfD_BwE

Mariner30 · Senior Member

yobarr wrote:
Mariner30 wrote:
yobarr wrote:
Mariner30 wrote:
I drove trucks for 30 years around central and northern Victoria,
Occasional Sin City overnight runs

Never in WA,

I find the suggestions about holes in truck cabin floors and or porta potties hilarious!

Just build more dunnies, with water tanks beside them . solar panels etc.

Get Elon Musk on the dunny case!
Who would pay for this?

The local councils/ State govt...if on a national highway, then the feds can chuck some dollars too.
Yeah, no worries eh! And where do "the Feds" get this money from? The money tree already has all sorts of bludgers feeding from it, and is about to collapse. So many "gimme, gimmes" and too few tax payers, but we won't go there.
Doen't have to be a huge structure to catch enough water to flush a couple of dunnies.
I'm thinking of one on the hume highway that is as basic as a modern dunny can get and it has a very small roof area.
"A very small roof area" you suggest. Did you not see the size of the roof area in the photo I supplied? And this was only to catch water for emergency use by travellers. Many outback areas have little rain, and huge roof areas are needed, as per my picture, not to mention huge tanks.
"Hume highway" you mention, but I can't imagine there being any probkem there as towns are only a hop, step and a jump apart.
Who would maitain it?
The same folk who maintain the road surface now ...put some new fangled electronic rain gauge thing to let some desk jockey in Perth or where ever that the water tank is getting low and then the real workers take a couple of IBG tanks with them,
Surely you don't think/believe that these road workers can cover every kilometre of every road every day? And I'm pretty sure that their job description would not include "cleaning up human waste deposited carelessly by thoughtless travellers". The unions would not be impressed.
IBG water tanks?
Plenty of money in WA,
Spend some on more basic services...like dunnies...where there is the need.
For heaven's sake, it's not as simple as "spending money". The logistics apparently are beyond your comprehension. Where does this water come from? Where do these workers reside? Distances are vast and by the time these workers had arrived at the crapper to be cleaned that day it would be time to turn around and head back to camp. Economically unviable I'm afraid!
Far better to teach travellers to dig a hole, or carry a plastic bag. Crap on a couple of sheets of paper, roll paper up, put into plastic bag, seal said bag and dispose of responsibly. Easy stuff, and nothing to bleat about.
It ain't rocket surgery.
Could you perhaps explain what "Rocket surgery" is, as I have never heard of it. Cheers