Austroads’ survey surrounding the management of overseas licensed drivers – particularly heavy vehicle drivers – is set to close this week.
The anonymous survey is being conducted to help inform decision-making around apparent concerns surrounding the road safety risk of overseas licensed drivers in Australia.
The current policy is overseas licence holders are allowed to drive the same class of vehicle they are licensed to operate in their home country while they’re in Australia, which has overseas heavy vehicle operators generally welcomed into to domestic industry due to their ability to help ease the pressures of the current skilled driver shortage.
To operate a heavy vehicle in Australia an overseas licence holder must complete the same learning and assessment required of an Australian licence holder.
Licensing authorities understand that while available evidence shows there are relatively few heavy vehicle crashes involving overseas licensed drivers, there are risks presented by a potential difference in driving conditions, road etiquette and road use from their country of origin.
The survey closes at the end of Friday July 12, 2024, and has been open since mid-June.
It will only take a few minutes to complete and will provide valuable information about community and industry views to inform policy and decision-making.
To access the survey, click here.