On 13 August 2013, the former Minister for Road Safety tabled new legislation requiring the installation of ABS in new heavy commercial vehicles. ABS is a technology that prevents wheels from locking when a vehicle is overbraked and increases the safety of a vehicle. It is an advanced technology that is already used by a significant portion of the commercial heavy vehicle fleet. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) notes the considerable cost of road crashes on Australian society. It considers four options: the status quo; deleting the relevant Australian Design Rules; non-regulatory options; and the preferred option of mandating ABS installation. Overall, the RIS concludes that, due to the advanced nature of the technology, there is effectively a small positive net benefit to the community for each additional heavy vehicle fitted with ABS even as the voluntary fitment rate approaches 100 per cent. Therefore the preferred option is expected to achieve a higher net benefit than the other options. The details of the preferred option were partly shaped by the extensive consultation the Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) undertook on this issue. The RIS was prepared by the DIT and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation under the June 2010 Australian Government best practice regulation requirements.
1.1 MB]
1.5 MB]