Peak body seeks NRSS with broad national push towards safer vehicles
Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia (HVIA) has called for stronger incentives for newer, safer and more productive vehicles in the next National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) and action plan.
While backing the need for a new strategy for 2021-2030, national policy and government relations manager Greg Forbes says HVIA would like to see stronger language around the incentives for the uptake of new vehicles.
“The strategy acknowledges that new vehicles, and the safety technology that goes with them, will play a big part in reducing the road toll, but uses soft language like encourage and promote voluntary uptake,” Forbes says.
“HVIA would like to see the strategy call on all parties – politicians, corporations, community organisations and the general public – to do everything they can to incentivise the uptake of these vehicles.
“Incentives do not always need to be cash, and do not always need to be provided by governments; some of the most effective incentives are ones that allow road users to be more productive, reduce costs or attract more business.”
The draft NRSS has come in for trenchant criticism from the National Road Transport Association (NatRoad), members of which view its approach as skewed and lacking industry insight.
Read about NatRoad’s position on the NRSS draft here
HVIA would like to see everyone incentivise for safer vehicles by implementing safe systems into their day-to-day activities.
“This includes in-house purchasing practices, or incentives for contractors to implement safe system approaches and buy newer, safer vehicles,” Forbes says.
It is not all brickbats, however, with the HVIA submission noting it is pleased the report identifies the reduction of fleet age as an important part of the strategy and would welcome further research on the best way to achieve this.
It also suggests that the sections on Infrastructure Planning and Investments, Regional Roads and Remote Areas include words encouraging the use of new Performance Based Standards (PBS) vehicles “due to their demonstrated benefits for both road safety and productivity”.
The full submission can be found here.