IAP providers join forces to sell GPS tracking as the answer to improving safety and efficiency
April 15, 2010
Intelligent Access Program (IAP) providers have joined forces to sell the monitoring tool as the answer to improving safety and efficiency.
The new industry group, the Intelligent Access Program Service Provider Forum, brings together Transtech Driven, Minorplanet, OmniStar and Transport Compliance Services.
The group’s chairman and the boss of Transtech Driven, Shaun Owen, says the IAP has opened the door to better use of infrastructure and more productive freight movement.
“It is already making it possible to run larger, more efficient trucks on suitable roads and at suitable times of the day, without the worry that those trucks might end up on the wrong road or travelling at the wrong time,” Owen says.
“Looking forward, the IAP will allow local councils to approve late night deliveries by new generation low-noise trucks and know that only the approved trucks do the work.”
Owen says it is only a matter of time before the IAP starts having an impact on safety because companies will be able to monitor their drivers to make sure they are not speeding or breaking rest requirements.
IAP is a GPS-based system designed to allow companies to increase their payload in return for their vehicles being monitored to ensure they do not stray onto restricted routes.
It is being used for higher mass limits (HML) in Queensland and NSW and for higher productivity vehicles such as super B-doubles in Victoria.
Work is currently underway to expand the IAP’s capabilities to allow it to electronically monitor truck drivers in favour of the current paper-based method.
The decision to link the IAP to HML has been criticised, with a lack of funding for routes for routes and no guarantee of access angering the industry.