HVNL amended by host jurisdiction

OHS Alert 15/4/24

HVNL amended by host jurisdiction

In its role as the host state of the Heavy Vehicle National Law, Queensland has made the Heavy Vehicle National Legislation Amendment Regulation 2024 to align the HVNL with provisions of the Federal Government's "Safer Freight Vehicles package".

The package commenced nationally on 1 October last year and features a number of new and amended Australian Design Rules (ADRs), including those increasing the overall heavy vehicle width limit from 2.5 metres to 2.55 metres (for vehicles fitted with certain safety technologies), and ensuring safety features (such as mirrors, cameras and monitoring devices like blind-spot information systems) are not considered when checking whether heavy vehicles satisfy maximum width and length requirements.

"The new ADRs implementing additional safety features are primarily harmonised with international vehicle regulations developed by the United Nations, in line with existing practices and agreements of the Commonwealth Government," the instrument's explanatory notes say.

"The purpose of the legislative amendments are to align the HVNL supporting regulations with changes to ADR dimension requirements for heavy vehicles," they say.

They add that the Northern Territory and Western Australia, which aren't part of the HVNL regime, will make their own legislative amendments to reflect the requirements of the Safer Freight Vehicles package.