Changes to fatigue management, vehicle mass and dimension limits, and national audit standards for operator accreditation now set to be considered by Ministers in December next year
The timetable for drafting of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) legislative reforms has been extended with the package now due to go to Ministers at the end of next year.
The revised timetable follows recent discussions with relevant Ministers.
While the National Transport Commission (NTC) received 46 responses to the Consultation Regulatory Impact Statement (C-RIS), which was released in early October, it has now launched a survey seeking further information from heavy vehicle operators.
The NTC is seeking input on three key areas of policy under consideration by the HVNL review: fatigue management; vehicle mass and dimension limits; and national audit standards for operator accreditation.
In particular, the C-RIS explores changes to the scope of fatigue regulations to simplify record-keeping and achieve more balanced enforcement.
On scope, the C-RIS includes options ranging from applying prescriptive fatigue management rules to only heavy vehicles greater than 12 tonnes, including a full written work diary, to requiring all heavy vehicles to comply with the laws, to exempting local work from the requirements, to introducing “light” work diary requirements for low-risk operations.
On enforcement, the C-RIS explores options to deliver a fairer regulatory approach, including: limiting the timeframe for issuing work and rest breach infringements; introducing a risk-based approach to enforcement; enabling a review of fines for ‘trifling’ work diary offences; providing drivers with an opportunity to challenge fines for minor administrative errors; giving authorised officers broader abilities to issue formal warnings rather than fines; and providing the option for formal education to be issued by authorised officers instead of traditional compliance practices.
Additionally, the C-RIS explores options for expanding vehicle mass and dimension limits for as-of-right access to the road network, including increasing the General Mass Limit by 5 per cent; increasing length limits for general access vehicles from 19m to 20m; and lifting height limits for general access vehicles from 4.3m to 4.6m.
Finally, the C-RIS explores the option of including National Audit Standards (NAS) requirements in regulations rather than just primary law as is the case currently.
The NTC says survey responses will inform further analysis of the relative costs and benefits of options in the next-stage Decision Regulatory Impact Statement (D-RIS), which is set to go to relevant Ministers in December 2024.
The survey closes January 31, 2024 and can be accessed here.
