New national laws to address heavy vehicle speeding have been developed in consultation with the transport industry, and aim to establish a culture where speeding is not encouraged.

The laws introduce the ‘chain of responsibility’ principle to heavy vehicle speed compliance. The laws apply to all vehicles with a gross vehicle mass of more than 4.5 tonne, and buses used to carry passengers for reward or in the course of a business.

Parties in the Chain

All parties in the transport chain need to ensure the road transport task is carried out in a way that does not encourage or require a driver to speed. The parties in the chain of responsibility are:

• The employer of the driver of the vehicle;
  The person who employs someone else to drive a heavy vehicle under a contract for employment, apprenticeship or training (eg labour hire company).
  
  
• The prime contractor of a driver;
  The person who engages someone else to drive a heavy vehicle under a contract for services eg. logistics company engages a subcontractor to transport goods.
  
  
• The operator of the vehicle;
  The person responsible for controlling or directing the operation of a vehicle.
  
  
• The scheduler of goods or passengers for transport, and also the scheduler of the driver;
  The person who schedules a driver’s work or rest time, or the transport of passengers or goods by a heavy vehicle.
  
  
• The consignor and consignee of the goods;
  The consignor is a person who commissions the carrying of a load or passengers.
  The consignee is a person named on the consignment documentation or who receives the goods.
  
  
• The loading manager
  The person who supervises, manages, or controls the loading or unloading, or manages, or is responsible for the operation of premises where at least five vehicles are loaded or unloaded in a business day (eg company that runs a distribution centre or a site manager for a distribution centre).

Drivers (including employed drivers and self-employed drivers) have not been included in the chain, as they are covered by existing regulations for speeding. Owner-drivers will generally be treated as a driver.

An overview of the new laws can be found on the following fact sheet – Fact Sheet 1 – Heavy vehicle compliance: Overview [pdf, 2pp, 225 kb]

Taking Reasonable Steps

As a party in the chain, you must take all reasonable steps to ensure that your activities do not cause or contribute to a breach of speed limits. Your duties under the new laws and ways in which you may take reasonable steps are outlined in the following fact sheet – Fact Sheet 2 – Managing speed compliance [pdf, 2pp, 249 kb].

Court Penalties

As a party in the transport chain you may be subject to court penalties for breaches of your duty. The table below outlines the applicable maximum court penalties for breaches of duty.

Where a person has been found guilty of entering into a contract with a driver or party in the transport chain that would have the effect of causing a heavy vehicle driver to exceed a speed limit, the maximum court penalty for an individual is $11,682. For a corporation the maximum court penalty is $58,410.

Employers, prime contractors and operators may also be subject to a range of court penalties based on driver offences. These offences would apply where it has been determined that all reasonable steps have not been taken by the employer, prime contractor or operator to prevent their drivers from exceeding the speed limit. There are three levels of offence categories. The levels are based on the nature and severity of the offence as shown below.

Where a driver has been found guilty of a speeding offence, and it has been determined that all reasonable steps have not been taken, the employer, prime contractor or operator may be subjected to the following court penalties: