7 February 1999
A8/99

Owners of any federally registered truck caught speeding by more than 15 km/h above the limit three times in three years will now face that vehicle’s registration being suspended.

Changes to the legislation governing vehicles registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme (FIRS) will ensure operators of vehicles who persistently flout speeding laws will be subjected to stiff penalties, it was announced today.

The Minister for Transport and Regional Services, John Anderson, said he wanted to rule out any possibility that operators of Federal interstate registered vehicles could abuse speeding laws because they knew the states and territories could not suspend a vehicle’s registration.

"We’re closing this loophole," Mr Anderson said today. "The ‘three strikes’ heavy vehicles speeding policy, agreed to by all Transport Ministers, now applies to FIRS vehicles.

"If owners or operators set schedules that cannot be met without speeding, or do not take steps to control their drivers, they will have to wear the responsibility. That means losing the income available from that truck while the registration is suspended."

Mr Anderson stressed that only a minority of truck owners and drivers were being targeted. He applauded the role of the trucking industry in pushing hard for these changes.

He said the escalating schedule of penalties included a requirement to have a speed limiter fitted if the vehicle did not already have one. The usual driver penalties would also apply.

"The speeding heavy vehicles policy has already been implemented in some States. I hope other jurisdictions will follow suit as soon as they can, to stamp out ‘cowboy’ operators who set unrealistic schedules and regard speeding fines as operating costs," Mr Anderson said.

The new penalties for FIRS registered vehicles will be gazetted on 11 February 1999. Other changes give operators access to maintenance management schemes formerly not available to them under the Commonwealth legislation, which allow them to seek exemption from annual registration inspections.

Media Contact: Paul Chamberlain 02 62777680 / 0419 493511 
Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600  Tel (02) 6277 7680 (02) 6273 4126

Attachment

Speeding

The schedule of penalties under the national policy is as follows, for speeding offences 15 km/h or more above the limit in a three-year period from the date of the first offence:

Exemption from Inspections

Ministerial Council for Road Transport agreed in November 1997 to a framework for alternative compliance. Under alternative compliance, heavy vehicle operators who are members of approved schemes may be exempt from some conventional enforcement requirements. These arrangements allow efficiency and productivity benefits to road transport operators, while freeing authorities to target problem operators.

Operators who enter schemes and take responsibility for vehicle maintenance, and accept the management and audit requirements that go along with them, will be exempt from annual inspection on renewal of registration.