How to Use a Loading Zone in Your Nissan Navara

The Nissan Navara is an excellent workhouse for any business owner that needs a rugged vehicle for transportation. In order to use your Navara in a business capacity, it will be necessary to use a loading zone from time to time. Some people are confused about how a loading zone works; the signs are everywhere, and it’s an integral part of the urban driving experience, so it makes sense to understand the rules. Let’s take a closer look at the rules surrounding the use of loading zones.

A Brief Primer

A loading zone is an area that is restricted for parking or stopping but reserved for the use of commercial vehicles. It’s intended primarily for the temporary stopping that would be required for a delivery in an urban or suburban setting where parking is at a premium. Many commercial operators rely heavily upon loading zones to complete their deliveries, and local retail outlets need this delivery access to get their goods. As such, there is little rancour related to the presence of loading zones from people in the area. However, it is important to note that loading zones can work differently depending upon the state or territory that you live in. For the remainder of this article, we will focus on how loading zones operate in Western Australia due to space constraints.

Western Australia Loading Zones

Here in Western Australia, we have a loading zone regulations that are specific to local council areas, and they must be followed closely to avoid legal problems later. If you are in any doubt about how the loading zones work in your area, don’t chance it and use the loading zone anyway. It’s a better idea to contact the local council in an area where you regularly make deliveries and ask for some clarification on the matter.

The law clearly states that "commercial" vehicles are the only vehicles permitted to use a loading zone. The person using the vehicle must be either continuously loading or unloading goods into their vehicle. In legal terms, the commercial vehicle is defined as a vehicle that has been adapted or constructed to convey goods or used primarily for the transportation of goods. That’s quite a mouthful, and this definition would cover a wide range of potential delivery vehicles. A Nissan Navara would fall into this definition because a ute is certainly constructed to carry goods. However, things are quite different in the City of Perth, as we shall see below.

City of Perth Loading Zones

In the City of Perth, the definition of a commercial is quite different to the rest of the state. In fact, here it specifically excludes vehicles that are constructed for transporting materials used in a business, trade, or industry for other work. So, this means that wagons and utes cannot use a loading zone in the City of Perth. Their use is restricted to lighter trucks and delivery vans instead.

If you’re looking for a Nissan Navara in Perth, get in touch with Perth City Nissan to arrange a no obligation test drive today.