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New Heavy Vehicle Speed Compliance Laws in 2010
On 1 February 2010, new nationally consistent Heavy Vehicle Speeding Compliance laws (HVSC) will come into effect in South Australia. The aim of the new laws is to reduce heavy vehicle speeding to make the roads safer for everyone.
The new laws will apply to you if you use, operate or manage heavy vehicles (including buses) with a gross vehicle mass of more than 4.5 tonnes.
The new laws don’t change the speed rules that apply to drivers, they just increase the responsibility of everyone involved in the transport of goods and passengers to ensure they do all they can to prevent speeding.
The new laws:
- require those that use, operate or manage the transport of goods or passengers to implement speed management systems to ensure the safety of drivers and all other road users
- require you to monitor and review speed compliance on a regular basis to ensure that drivers do not speed and that your business practices do not encourage speeding
- require you take reasonable steps to ensure those you do business with are aware of their responsibilities under the new speed laws.
Offences under the new laws are classified according to the level of risk. The greater the risk to safe road use caused by the offence, the greater the penalty. Penalties will range from an infringement notice to court imposed penalties.
What do you need to do?
All parties in the Chain of Responsibility must take some action. Parties in the Chain of Responsibility include:
- Consignors
- Consignees
- Employers
- Prime Contractors
- Operators
- Schedulers
- Loading Managers
Transport employers, operators and prime contractors now have responsibilities related to their business practices that require them to review and if necessary, make changes to prevent speeding.
Specific parties in the Chain of Responsibility also have new duties to stamp out speeding.
Some of the steps include:
- ensuring your work practices do not contribute to or cause on-road breaches;
- training staff to make sure they understand their obligations under the Chain of Responsibility;
- audits/spot-checks to make sure of compliance (for example, monitoring of on-board speed devices);
- reviewing contracts and commercial arrangements to make sure they do not directly or indirectly encourage breaches of speed law;
- have documented contingency plans to manage operational issues (like loading/ unloading or traffic delays) within the law.
Fact Sheets
Heavy Vehicle Speed Compliance Legislation
Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act (Commencement) Proclamation 2009 (PDF)
Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Variation Regulations 2009 (PDF)
Road Traffic (Heavy Vehicle Speeding Compliance) Regulations 2009 (PDF)
Road Traffic (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2009 (PDF)
Where can I find out more?
In addition to the information available on this website, information on the new laws is available on the National Transport Commission website.
The Heavy Vehicle Speed Project Team is available for further information on 1300 109 933 during normal business hours or e-mail dtei.speed@sa.gov.au.
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Thu 17th May 12
