At the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), we are firmly committed to the development of a safer and more productive heavy vehicle industry.
We recently released a paper, Removing Roadblocks to Reform, which looks at how we can break down the barriers to transforming the heavy vehicle fleet via the Performance Based Standards (PBS) Scheme.
As many in industry would know, the PBS scheme allows for vehicles to be designed for a specific freight task so long as they meet strict safety and infrastructure performance standards.
Despite the benefits of being the safest, most productive, and least polluting vehicles in Australia, PBS vehicles face more barriers to get on the road than a standard ‘prescriptive’ heavy vehicle.
As a result, opportunities to reduce crashes and emissions, while increasing productivity, are being lost.
In releasing the Removing Roadblocks to Reform paper, the NHVR is calling for reform to the PBS scheme.
When it was launched in 2007, it was the most sophisticated heavy vehicle scheme in the world. It has also proven to be extremely effective, preventing more than 100 fatalities, reducing CO2 emissions by over 3.2 million tonnes, reducing fuel consumption by over 1.2 billion litres and saving over $23 million in air and noise pollution costs.
Looking ahead to 2030, the PBS scheme has the potential to prevent another 30,000 crashes, saving up to 340 lives.
The scheme has proven popular, with more than 20,000 PBS combinations now on Australia’s roads.
While this has had great benefits, it has now outgrown its regulatory settings. PBS vehicles must go through potentially expensive design approval and road access processes to get on the road.
There are very few reasons that a vehicle design used many hundreds of times, which has proven itself over tens of millions of kilometres of travel, still requires specific approval to be built. But the current Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) provides no alternative.
We think changes are needed to make the safest and most efficient vehicles more generally available to transport operators.
The NHVR also wants to keep the PBS scheme at the cutting edge of technology by having the flexibility to revise and update the PBS standards themselves.
As it currently stands, the regulator cannot change the standards of its own accord, even if it means better outcomes for all.
We want to work with industry and government to update the HVNL so the NHVR has the ability to change PBS standards, which would provide greater flexibility in updating them and allow us to keep up with improvements in safety technology.
It is clear the PBS scheme needs to be modernised and this mean changes to the HVNL are needed.
By removing barriers for safer and more productive heavy vehicles on our roads, we can accelerate the transition to a younger and less polluting heavy vehicle fleet, and most importantly, save lives.
To access the paper, click here.
* Scott Britton is PBS review project manager at the NHVR.