The overlap between the Australian Design Rules (ADR) and the in-service vehicle regulations will continue to throw up burdensome and time-consuming problems until it is fixed, warned Australian Trucking Association CEO Mathew Munro.
Munro was speaking after releasing the ATA’s response to follow up questions asked by the ADR Harmonisation Review.
“To operate legally, it is not sufficient for a vehicle to meet the requirements of the Australian Design Rules. The vehicle must also meet state level requirements,” Munro said.
“As a result, some changes to the heavy vehicle design rules must be paralleled by changes to the state level standards to have any effect.”
Munro said a recent example is the definition of a twinsteer axle group.
Until October 2024, the ADR definition of a twinsteer axle group required the horizontal distance between the axle centre lines to be at least 1.0 metres but not more than 2.0 metres.
“The Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) duplicated this definition,” Munro said.
“The distance needed to be increased to accommodate the larger mufflers required for Euro 6 trucks.
“The Australian Government was able to amend the design rules to allow vehicles with 2.5 metre twinsteer axles to be provided to the market.”
But Munro said that amending the HVNL proved be much more problematic.
“The NHVR is consulting with state and local government road managers on a notice to allow 2.5 metre twinsteers on the road network until amendments can be passed as part of the HVNL reform package.
“We can be sure this sort of regulatory overlap will continue to throw up complex, burdensome and time-consuming problems until it is properly addressed.”
The Australian Government has engaged Dr Warren Mundy to conduct an independent review of how it aligns Australian Design Rules (ADRs) with international standards.