From July 1, the National Heavy Vehicle Inspection Manual (NHVIM) Version 2.1 will be the national standard for heavy vehicle inspections in all participating jurisdictions. For many this will mean some minor adjustments to procedures to ensure trucks comply.
For those using their own brake roller testers in New South Wales, this means quite a change. Both the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and the Roads and Maritime Services in NSW have put out fact sheets to ensure everyone in the industry is up to speed with the changes.
The factsheet issued by the RMS is called, ‘Modification of Roller Brake testing equipment required to meet new safety standards.’ According to the RMS it has implemented the NHVIM as of June 11.
This means trucks in NSW will be required to comply with amended brake force requirements mandated by the NHVR. The new standard can be found in Section 2.13 of the NHVIM and raises the pass criteria for brakes as follows:
As per Schedule 2 of the Heavy Vehicle (Vehicle Standards) National Regulation (NSW), and the NHVIM, the following minimum brake performance requirements apply:
- Deceleration: 2.8 m/s/s average and 4.4 m/s/s peak
- Brake force: 3.0 kN/t GVM average and 4.5 kN/t GVM peak
RMS says to comply with the NHVIM, roller brake testing equipment used for inspections of heavy vehicles must be set to meet the new minimum requirements by June 11.
The NHVR Brake testing Fact Sheet is downloadable here.
The full NHVIM is available here.
To download individual sections of the NHVIM go to this NHVR webpage.