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Transport Efficiency & Supply Chain Review |
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Performance Based Standards
Updated: 4 June 2009
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Please note the next Performance Based Standards Review Panel (PRP) meeting is scheduled for
August 2010 |
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Performance Based Standards (PBS) offer the potential for heavy vehicle operators to achieve higher productivity and safety through innovative vehicle design. These gains are typically not available under conventional ‘one size fits all’ prescriptive mass and dimension rules or the state-based permit system.
PBS brings a fresh alternative approach to heavy vehicle regulation. It focuses on how well the vehicle behaves on the road, rather than how big and heavy it is (eg length and mass), through a set of safety, road wear and bridge loading standards.
In other words, PBS governs what a vehicle can do, not what it should look like. PBS sets minimum vehicle ‘performance’ standards to ensure trucks are stable on the road and can turn and stop safely. We have tagged them SMART trucks – because they work smarter. |
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What are the benefits of PBS?
The National Transport Commission’s (NTC) Twice the Task report found that the land transport task will almost double between 2000 and 2020. ‘Doing nothing’ will result in another 50,000 trucks on Australian roads, with one in four vehicles in our cities carrying freight.
SMART trucks carry more freight and are safer on the road than the ‘off-the-shelf’ one-size-fits-all vehicles they replace. The end result is fewer trucks on the road for the same freight task, improved road safety, less transport emissions and a more competitive domestic economy.
Do you have a SMART idea?
Applications for SMART heavy vehicles are considered by the PBS Review Panel (PRP). A preliminary step is to consider what benefits, in terms of productivity and safety, may be achieved through PBS. Those benefits should be assessed against the likely costs and risks of submitting an application.
Potential applicants are advised to approach an accredited PBS Vehicle Assessor to consider design options. Road network access should also be discussed at design development stage with relevant state and territory road agencies. Understanding the level of road network access likely to be granted by road agencies is crucial to assessing the benefits before submitting an application.
The following are, in broad terms, the steps required to register a PBS vehicle:
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Contact the relevant road agency about access (particularly bridges)
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Submit an application to the PBS Review Panel
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Obtain a PBS design approval from the PBS Review Panel
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Build the vehicle AS PER THE PBS DESIGN APPROVAL
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Submit this certificate to the PBS Secretariat
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You will get issued a PBS Final approval containing the VIN of the vehicle
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Contact the relevant road agency to obtain a permit.
Interested applicants are encouraged to contact the PBS secretariat before discussing their case with the road authorities. Enquiries to the PBS Secretariat is also welcome at any stage of the process at contact details listed below.
NTC Contact
| Marcus Coleman
Technical Advisor
PBS Review Panel
(03) 9236 5032
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Jose Arredondo
Executive Officer
PRP Secretariat
(03) 9236 5015
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