PERFORMANCE BASED SPECIFICATIONS FOR HEAVY VEHICLES IN AUSTRALIA: SUMMARY OF CURRENT STATUS

The National Road Transport Commission (NRTC) and Austroads are developing performance-based standards (PBS) which will augment prescriptive regulations for heavy vehicles in the areas of mass, dimensions and configurations. The adoption of PBS is expected to lead to more predictable and consistent regulatory outcomes and to provide scope for the design of innovative and more productive vehicles. A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) is currently being prepared which evaluates the appropriateness of the recommended standards and the impacts of applying the standards. The focus of the RIS is on the development of suitable performance standards. This paper presents details of the project, including the major outputs to date and also details of the proposed RIS, which is still under review. The evaluation of two pavement infrastructure standards is discussed in some detail because of the concerns expressed regarding the validity of these two Standards in terms of their application in practice. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E208315.