Queensland's peak trucking group backs government initiative to boost speed compliance using the Intelligent Access Program (IAP)
By Brad Gardner | February 11, 2010
A Queensland government initiative to boost speed compliance using the Intelligence Access Program (IAP) has won the support of the state’s peak trucking lobby.
The Queensland Trucking Association (QTA) says regulators are right to use data from the satellite tracking device to help trucking companies manage speed.
Unlike other states that focus solely on route compliance, the Department of Transport and Main Roads notifies operators enrolled in the IAP of driver speeding.
Meetings are held with operators to educate them but the information is not passed on to enforcement agencies.
“That is very much an appropriate use of the information that comes to the regulators,” QTA CEO Peter Garske.
He says many trucking companies already use in-vehicle monitoring devices to track vehicle movement and driver performance.
While there have been concerns from some in the trucking industry over being monitored, Garske says operators have no reason to fear the technology.
“This is not some covert big brother,” he says.
“It’s quite overt action on the behalf of the department.”
Garske says speed is a major cause of heavy vehicle accidents and what Queensland is doing shows the department is being proactive about road safety.
He says using IAP to monitor speed will also help level the playing field in the industry.
As reported by ATN, speed compliance was slotted into legislation to introduce IAP in Queensland.
A spokesperson for the department says the approach is working.
“Since engaging with these operators there has been a substantial decrease in the incidence of non-compliance,” the spokesperson says.
Queensland and NSW operators must enrol in the IAP to access higher mass limits (HML) routes.
The tool has been restricted to higher productivity vehicles, concrete pump trucks and cranes in Victoria and South Australia.
What do you think? Should IAP be used to monitor the speed of truck drivers? Let us know below or by email.
