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NHVR unveils National Compliance and Enforcement Policy

Document outlines risk-based national compliance approach

 

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has released the final National Compliance and Enforcement Policy (NCEP), which outlines how agencies should tackle high-risk behaviour and non-compliance in the heavy vehicle industry.

With Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) enforced by several different agencies across Australia, including police, transport agencies and the national regulator, the document is designed to guide a more streamlined approach to enforcement.

NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto says heavy vehicle operators and the broader road transport industry can expect improved targeting of compliance activities by law enforcement agencies as they operate across state borders.

“Our transport enforcement agencies directly interact with heavy vehicle drivers and operators more than 320,000 times a year and today the NHVR has released a policy which outlines how those interactions will be more targeted and risk-based.

“The NHVR already undertakes heavy vehicle compliance activities in South Australia and Tasmania and we work closely with other agencies, particularly on national operations which target key areas such as fatigue and vehicle maintenance.”

NHVR notes the policy has been under development since February and was refined with several rounds of consultation with industry, aligns with the regulator’s Strategic Directions documents.

The regulator is confident it will lead to more consistency around targeted compliance and high-risk activities.

South Australian Road Transport Association (SARTA) CEO Steve Shearer welcomed the NHVR’s process towards ensuring the document addressed the industry.


Completion of NCEP overcame earlier hurdles. Read more, here


 “Placing priority on the key safety issues by adopting a risk-based and intelligence-led approach to enforcement will deliver both a safer industry and fairer outcomes for drivers and operators,” Shearer says.

“A major complaint of industry has long been that too much enforcement effort has unreasonably penalised drivers and operators with substantial fines over minor administrative and technical infringements that are of no safety consequence, driving good people out of the industry.

“SARTA looks forward to the enforcement effort increasingly being focused on the safety risks and particularly on the recalcitrant minority of drivers, operators and customers who do not meet their obligations to operate safely.

“The National Compliance and Enforcement Policy should also lead to a more consistent and fairer approach to enforcement over time, particularly as police agencies progressively adopt this same risk-based and intelligence-lead approach, as we hope they will.

“We have already noticed a significant improvement since the NHVR began its on-road enforcement activity in South Australia, with a far more proportionate response commensurate with the level of safety risk involved in each case.”

The full policy is available here.

 

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