Heavy vehicles
Australia is facing massive growth in demand for freight transport services, with the total freight task estimated to almost double by 2020. About 75% of all freight is carried by road - with over 90% in urban areas.
It is thus no surprise that heavy vehicles are attracting increasing attention in local communities and causing mixed reactions. On one hand trucks are recognized as an essential element of our economic system; yet they can cause problems of safety, noise and pollution.
The National Transport Commission (NTC) is the agency responsible for Australia-wide road and rail regulatory reform. ALGA liaises closely with NTC on heavy vehicle issues affecting local government at a national level, the key issues being:
1. Performance Based Standards (PBS) for Heavy Vehicles
PBS allows heavy vehicles to be built and operated to meet specified safety, infrastructure protection and environmental performance criteria, rather mass and dimension specifications.
ALGA enacted a Memorandum of understanding with NTC in 2003 to encourage the implementation of PBS throughout the full road system. ALGA and some state associations have participated in NTC committees and (PBS) trials as part of the Vehicle access project, but full PBS implementation is a complex, staged process. NTC has produced a good fact sheet on the implications of PBS for local government.
2. Road Pricing
In setting future heavy vehicle pricing systems, better account must be taken of the level of truck use on local roads and establish a mechanism to link and return revenue to the parts of the local road system significantly affected by heavy vehicle use. This can be by infrastructure damage and/or environmental and residential amenity/safety problems. COAG commissioned the Productivity commision to undertake a review of road and rail pricing
3. Modal Substitution
Where grain movement is switching from rail to road (mainly in NSW, WA and SA) there needs to be much better recognition of resulting local road damage and compensation to local councils.
ALGA also liaises with the Australian Trucking Association on relevant issues, and promotes their
