Following an internal member webinar in mid-September, HVIA has collated member feedback and submitted its formal response to the NHVR’s Pavement Horizontal Loading Standard (PHLS) review.
The submission, available to download here, covers a wide range of technical topics raised by members during the consultation, including:
>> The need to ensure the removal of access roadblocks imposed on vehicles seeking to be exempted from the current PHLS standard;
>> Clarification on the definition of ‘cold’ tyre inflation pressures;
>> Scope of application of tyre pressure controls (i.e. every tyre, every axle, on every vehicle unit?);
>> Flexibility in setting different pressures for different positions;
>> System capability and functionality requirements;
>> On-road compliance and enforcement matters; and
>> Management of the unintended creation of ‘orphaned’ Design Approvals (DAs).
Overall, HVIA supports the NHVR’s proposal as outlined in the review’s consultation paper, but calls on the NHVR to consider and comment on the above items, all of which the paper is silent on.
HVIA has long called for the transition of the PBS scheme’s standards from prescriptive to performance-based and accordingly supports the NHVR’s efforts to update the Pavement Horizontal Loading Standard to remove its prescriptive requirements.
Please contact HVIA Chief Technical Officer Adam Ritzinger at a.ritzinger@hvia.asn.au to discuss any of these matters further.