The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has launched Freight PASS – an interactive tool for road managers to make more informed decisions about the benefits of heavy vehicle combinations on the road network.
NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto OAM said the new Freight PASS uses more than one million registration data records to assess a range of performance factors for conventional and Performance Based Standards (PBS) vehicles including crash likelihood, trip numbers and travel time, and fuel consumption.
“The tool has been developed by linking datasets across governments, industry, research agencies and the NHVR to produce a robust and reliable information source for use by industry and road managers,” Mr Petroccitto said.
Specifically requested by road managers, the tool delivers on the NHVR’s commitment in the Heavy Vehicle Productivity Plan, ensuring road managers are armed with the information and confidence to grant access to high performance vehicles.
It’s envisaged Freight PASS will assist road managers in understanding the comparative safety, productivity, and sustainability benefits of different freight vehicles for a nominated freight task.
It will also improve the speed, accuracy and consistency of decisions about using safer and more productive vehicles.
The tool will fill a knowledge gap when road managers are assessing opportunities to let bigger and heavier vehicles on their roads, to meet Australia’s growing freight task, the Regulator said in a statement.
“Freight PASS will also support the heavy vehicle industry’s transition to a more sustainable future by helping road managers to better understand heavy vehicle performance and informing industry vehicle purchase decisions to support the transition to zero emission vehicles,” it said.
This is the first of a suite of productivity related tools that will be released for consultation in the coming months, the Regulator said.
The NHVR will shortly release details for a series of webinars on Freight PASS.
For further information and access to consultation materials click here.
