The RTA explains the rules for drivers using automatic transmission or a synchromesh gearbox
By Gary Worrall | April 22, 2010
With plenty of discussion surrounding the appropriate licence for operators using automated manual transmissions, the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority has joined in with its interpretation of the rules.
An RTA spokesperson says the department is a partner in a national agreement among all transport agencies to ensure interstate consistency on licences.
According to the agreement, drivers who successfully pass the licence test for all classes of commercial vehicles from MR (medium rigid) to MC (multiple combination) using either an automatic transmission or a synchromesh gearbox will be restricted to nothing higher than a synchromesh manual transmission.
“There is a national agreement that in both circumstances the licence is to be endorsed with a condition ‘B – may only drive a heavy vehicle fitted with an automatic or synchromesh gear box’,” the RTA spokesperson says.
“This condition applies to licence classes MR, HR, HC and MC and includes AMTs.”
The spokesperson says that under the national agreement, there are no endorsements to licences where the holder has completed the test in “a vehicle fitted with a constant mesh (crash) gear box”.
Clouding this stance is that the description used by the regulating bodies relates to the internal workings of the gearbox, with both Road Ranger-type manual transmissions and automated manual transmissions such as the ZF AS-Tronic using non-synchromesh gears for strength and longevity.
The difference between the two transmissions is the clutch actuation, with the Road Ranger-type having a manual clutch controlled by the driver, while the AS-Tronic has a computer controlled clutch mechanism.