The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator is encouraging industry and government to use Freight PASS, a web app designed to compare the productivity, asset impact, safety and sustainability trade-offs of different heavy vehicle configurations.
The tool allows users to compare a range of outcomes when different vehicle types are used to undertake a specific freight task, including diesel consumption, vehicle operating costs, travel time, crash likelihood, climate change impacts and pavement wear.
NHVR Chief Safety and Productivity Officer Matt d’Abbs says the tool is particularly useful as operators and supply chains face ongoing economic pressure.
“With Freight PASS, users can compare potential diesel consumption, vehicle operating costs, travel time, crash likelihood, climate change impacts, pavement wear and other factors to better understand how vehicle choice can affect the economy, road assets, environment and safety,” Matt says.
“We know industry and government are facing increasing challenges right now, requiring operators and road managers to be more agile than ever.”
Matt says the tool is designed to help users better understand the balance between safety, sustainability and productivity when selecting vehicles for freight tasks.
“For example, the tool can help to understand how less vehicles transporting a greater quantity of freight can have positive environmental and safety outcomes,” he says.
For road managers, Freight PASS provides insights into infrastructure impacts, including pavement wear and emissions across cumulative heavy vehicle trips.
Road managers can also modify vehicle details to compare axle groups, mass distribution and tyre dimensions, helping them better assess how different configurations may affect local roads.
The tool can also help operators identify vehicle designs that better align with road manager considerations before applying for an access permit.
Matt says the current fuel shortage has reinforced the importance of optimising freight tasks while balancing road asset management.
“The current fuel shortage has highlighted the importance of an optimised freight task balanced against road asset management and Freight PASS can help users better understand transport system implications to perform the freight task,” he says.
“Vehicle choice has an effect on costs, and while the current climate is putting productivity in the spotlight, the NHVR has designed Freight PASS to assist with these decisions into the future.
“The tool can support a forward-focused heavy vehicle industry by empowering road managers and operators to access better insights into productivity, safety and sustainability metrics.
“At the end of the day, more robust data and information enables better-informed decision making.”
Freight PASS is free to use and can be accessed through NHVR Go.
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