Toll wants risk-based vehicle inspections and criticises inconsistent roadworthiness standards.
The nation’s largest road transport operator has taken aim at mandatory annual heavy vehicle inspections, labelling them “perverse” and pushing for a risk-based approach to be adopted instead.
Toll’s response to a government review of Australia’s heavy vehicle roadworthiness regime takes issue with existing inspection procedures and also criticises inconsistent standards.
The National Transport Commission (NTC) and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) are currently examining roadworthiness standards and have released two reports detailing their findings and potential short-term and long-term reforms.
“Toll supports a risk-based approach to heavy vehicle inspections. It does not support compulsory annual inspections by enforcement bodies because of the potentially perverse outcomes,” Toll road transport compliance manager Dr Sarah Jones has written to the NTC.
“Such an approach may encourage operators to defer important maintenance work and promote a view that vehicle safety is an ‘annual event’ rather than an ongoing process and commitment.”
Jones goes on to add that there is a “lack of scientifically credible evidence supporting compulsory annual inspections”.
The first report from the NTC and NHVR says annual roadworthiness inspections are compulsory in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Western Australia and Tasmania do not require periodic inspections, while inspections in Victoria take place when vehicle ownership changes hands.
Annual inspections in South Australia are restricted to B-doubles, road trains and vehicles not enrolled in an approved accreditation scheme.
A risk-based scheme involves authorities targeting trucking operators considered to have a poor compliance history.
Jones says trucking operators should have a right to review defect notices if authorities use them to build a company’s risk profile.
“Currently there is no formal mechanism for an operator to challenge a defect notice and no obvious incentive to do so since there is no fine associated,” Jones says.
“When defect notices are used to infer a level of risk about an operator, it is imperative that the operator have a right of review in instances where they dispute the existence of a fault.”
Jones adds that formal warnings could be useful in instances where there is a roadworthiness issue but no safety issue, such when a malfunctioning headlight is detected on a vehicle driven during the daytime.
Toll’s submission also calls for greater consistency around inspection standards.
Jones says ambiguities in the Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual (HVIM), such as different brake testing methodologies, need to be addressed and that there should be standardised and robust training for enforcement officers in the use and application of the manual.
“One of the cornerstones of an effective roadworthiness regime is consistency: consistency of standard, consistency of process and consistency of enforcement,” she says.
“One of Toll’s frustrations is the lack of a clear and unambiguous standard that articulates what is considered roadworthy and what action should be taken in the event that ‘unroadworthiness’ is determined.”
Jones says the HVIM could conceivably replace the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme’s (NHVAS) Maintenance Management Accreditation Guide and business rules and set the baseline expectations for all heavy vehicles in Australia.
Toll has also voiced support for extending chain of responsibility to heavy vehicle maintenance.
“However, this support is contingent on a clear and unambiguous standard about what constitutes roadworthiness and a consistent approach to the enforcement of that standard,” Jones adds.
The NTC and the NHVR released the first of its two roadworthiness reports in July, with the second one appearing at the beginning of September.
The first report questioned the worth of the NHVAS and highlighted the various jurisdictional approaches toward heavy vehicle inspections.
The second report identified potential short-term and long-term reforms to inspection standards.
Final recommendations will be included in a regulatory impact statement due to be released in November.
A review of Australia’s roadworthiness standards was launched following the fatal Cootes Transport tanker crash at Mona Vale on Sydney’s northern beaches last year.
Cootes was enrolled in the NHVAS at the time. An investigation into the company following the accident revealed defects in Cootes’ NSW and Victorian fleets.