PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AUSTRALIAN HEAVY VEHICLE FLEET (PERFORMANCE BASED STANDARDS: NRTC/AUSTROADS PROJECT A3 AND A4): WORKING PAPER

A range of potential performance standards was tested against a total of 139 representative heavy vehicles from the Australian fleet using computer-based modelling. The vehicles selected covered a diverse range of configurations, freight transport tasks and operating situations. In light of the performance results, and the feedback received from stakeholders, the proposed performance measures were reviewed. Further analysis through correlation was undertaken to reduce the total number of measures. Twenty (20) performance measures survived the process, 15 were considered useable, the other 5 requiring further research. Using the proposed final set of standards, the number of vehicles meeting the safety and infrastructure related performance requirements was determined using the following three broad levels of route access/road environment: unrestricted access to the network, access to major freight routes, and access to road train routes. Performance of the entire fleet and benefit/cost of PBS will be assessed in the next stage of this study under the Regulatory Impact Statement. (a)