Firstly though, a brief history review. For those with good memories, you will recall that the issue of a performance-based approach to heavy vehicle productivity was first raised in Australia in about 2001. Performance Based Standards (PBS) were developed and generally supported by the States and Territories, particularly after 2006 when the NTC became actively involved with the development. The concept of a PBS vehicle is simple – rather than being bound by the prescriptive regulations that define length, width and mass of trucks and trailers, operators and manufacturers are able to develop vehicles that meet a series of performance based criteria such as swept path, tracking stability, group and combination axle loadings, startability and gradeability. PBS can apply to both rigid trucks and truck and trailer combinations. If the vehicle passes the performance tests, then it can be put to work.
While the concept of a PBS vehicle is simple, its execution has not been. From day one PBS has been hamstrung by the lack of access to the road network. Over-protective pavement engineers have ‘locked-up’ their roads and generally not allowed PBS vehicle access. Of course, we all hoped that the situation of road access would have opened up with the advent of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) in February last year, however the NHVR has had its own issues and progress on broader road access has been slow.
Back to the Austroads report findings. The report reviewed the number and severity of heavy vehicle accidents involving HPV/PBS vehicles versus conventional prescriptive truck combinations per distance travelled and weighted against the relative vehicle populations.
The results showed an average 76 per cent reduction in accident rates for the HPVs, a clear win on the safety front. Over 80 per cent of HPV/PBS vehicles surveyed were quite new and utilised either ADR80/02 or 03 (Euro 4 or 5) emission technology.
The average age of HPVs was 3.4 years for articulated vehicles and 1.9 years for rigid trucks. This relatively new HPV/PBS fleet age represents significant input from truck and trailer manufacturers who specifically engineer and tailor new vehicles to suit PBS applications. When considering the average age of trucks in Australia is approaching 14 years and with over 35 per cent of the truck fleet pre-dating any engine emission regulation, these new HPVs show a healthy win for the environment and public well being.
The gains in productivity are also impressive with the report detailing that 37 per cent and 26 per cent more freight is moved by articulated and rigid HPVs respectively when compared to their conventional prescriptive equivalents, a significant win for productivity. The report points out that a greater freight task can be accomplished with a lower fleet Gross Combination Mass using HPV/PBS vehicles, resulting in slightly reduced pavement impacts, a win for road maintenance.
Overall the Austroads report estimates that HPV/PBS vehicles could conservatively save Australia $12.6 billion by 2030. The benefits of HPVs to the transport industry are clear and well detailed in Dr Hassall’s report, but despite the obvious safety and productivity gains HPV/PBS remains a niche area within the Australia’s transport industry. So what needs to happen for the benefits of HPVs to be taken up by the broader Australian transport industry?
We need state and local governments to acknowledge the benefits to road safety, the environment, freight productivity and road maintenance and the flow-on benefits to our communities and economy. These governments need to provide leadership on this important issue and open up their road networks to allow greater access to HPV/PBS vehicles.
