THE COMMONWEALTH government has begun consulting on technology to cut the number and severity of heavy vehicle rear impact crashes.
Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister Andrew Gee said heavy vehicles represented 3% of all registered vehicles in Australia and accounted for just over 8% of vehicle kilometres.
“In line with the National Road Safety Action Plan 2018-2020, the government has released a consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) to examine options more closely,” Mr Gee said.
“The RIS identifies Autonomous Emergency Braking that meets international standards as the most effective countermeasure available. The RIS proposes to adopt AEB across the new heavy vehicle fleet.”
Mr Gee said research commissioned by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development found that AEB systems meeting the standards would reduce the number and severity of almost 15% of all heavy vehicle crashes.
Assistant Minister Gee said harmonising with established international standards ensured the safest vehicles were made available to Australian operators at the lowest cost.
The consultation RIS is available at: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/design/adr_comment.aspx and will remain open for a six-week public comment period.
