Here at Diesel News we are used to bringing you stories about some of the frustrating thing the road authorities come up with in NSW, but this time we bring you a story about the rational acronym, SPECTS, which is bringing improved productivity to operators trying to keep up with the infrastructure building needs of the Sydney metropolitan area.
What we are talking about is Transport for NSW’s Safety, Productivity and Environment Construction Transport Scheme (SPECTS) aiming to up the ante on productivity gains. As explained in this video, the system has been devised to enable operators to be able to run new combinations without having to add the Intelligent Access Program to their trucks.
The SPECTS scheme is using a new process to get data about PBS truck movements to Transport for NSW, using the operators’ existing telematics system. The introduction of this rule change in 2019 has seen an increase in the number of operators getting involved in SPECTS, which had limited success when IAP was a requirement.
Only trucks involved in transporting construction materials with onboard mass monitoring and fitted with the following safety features are eligible:
- electronic Stability Control (ESC) on vehicles manufactured on or after 1 January 2017.
- roll-over control system on trailer – to be fitted to vehicles manufactured on or after 1 January 2017.
- systems to improve visibility and detection of vulnerable road users, such as blind spot mirrors.
- reversing lights on both truck and trailer.
- Enhanced vehicle visibility markings, using retro-reflective tape to provide a contour outline of the vehicle.
- ‘Smart’ reversing alarm, which adjusts the noise level to be appropriate for the environment that the vehicle operates in, on both the truck and trailer .
- a Euro 5 diesel engine (or later).
The innovation which has led to the dropping of the IAP requirement is known as Road Infrastructure Management, which is an application of the National Telematics Network and run by Transport Certification Australia.
To read about a Sydney based operator who is making the most of the rule changes and running some heavy multi-combination trucks in and around the Sydney area, read the next issue of Diesel Magazine when it comes out. Subscribe here.
