Konferens: HVTT12: International Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology, 2012, Stockholm

The Performance Based Standards Scheme has been operating in Australia in its current form since 2007. The scheme allows operators to obtain mass and dimension concessions in exchange to voluntary submitting their vehicle combinations for assessment against 16 standards, covering powertrain, low speed and high speed manoeuvers and infrastructure. Issues like enforcement, access to the road network (infrastructure and road geometry), last kilometre issues (local governments) and consistent application of the scheme across Australia appears to be issues that can be potentially addressed by the implementation of a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator in 2013. The future of the scheme rests with the asset owners and their realisation that those assets are there not to be preserved but to be used, however funding for maintenance is an ever present constraint in the expansion of the PBS network.