Stage 2 of the HV Inspection Regime will not go ahead

On 4^th June the Minister for Transport, The Hon Stephan Knoll, announced that the Government was not proceeding with the proposed Stage 2 of the HV Inspection Regime, which would have required annual inspections for all HV's at 4, 6, 8, 10 years of age and then annually.

The Minister’s Statement below recognises that the cost impact on the industry ($10m p.a.) would not have been warranted and that there would be difficulties in ensuring a service that did not disadvantage operators in regional areas.

The existing requirement for inspections at Change of Ownership will continue BUT all those inspections will now be conducted by DPTI, rather than contracted Third Party Providers.

The Minister’s Statement to Parliament yesterday follows:

“Following an inquest into a fatal accident in January 2014, the Coroner recommended that all heavy vehicles should be subject to a periodic and frequent inspection regime.
The Government initiated a pilot heavy vehicle inspection program in January 2017 to identify, monitor and mitigate un-roadworthiness as a causative factor in crashes on South Australian roads, which required an inspection on the change of ownership of a heavy vehicle (Stage One).

Stage One of the Heavy Vehicle Inspection Scheme (HVIS) has improved the roadworthiness of heavy vehicles and is providing valuable information to inform targeted, on-road compliance activities aimed at vehicles more likely to be non-compliant.
In 2017, work commenced on a process to implement an annual heavy vehicle inspection program (Stage Two) and a tender was released seeking proposals for a vendor-led delivery model.

The procurement set out requirements for regional service delivery to ensure regional operators were not disproportionately impacted by the imposition of fees or accessibility when compared to those in the metropolitan area.

The viability of the Stage Two scheme was dependent on volumes, which have reduced over the course of the procurement due to some vehicles being exempted and the increasing number that have moved to the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme.

Following an exhaustive process to identify a provider for Stage Two of the scheme, the procurement has been concluded without a recommendation to award a contract.

Given the greater number of vehicles captured by Stage Two, in comparison to Stage One, it was estimated an additional cost of over $10.5 million per annum would fall on South Australian heavy vehicle owners for annual vehicle inspections alone.

In addition to the cost of inspections, the non-productive time and costs of travel to and from inspections for heavy vehicle owners were considered excessive and could result in a loss of productivity, competitiveness and hurt local jobs in the South Australian industry.

The requirements for inspection at change of ownership are still in place, with further details available at the Heavy Vehicle Inspection website.

Change of Ownership Inspection services will now be provided at existing Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure’s metropolitan and regional locations.

To continue to improve road safety and heavy vehicle roadworthiness compliance the State Government will investigate additional options in consultation with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) and SAPOL, and in response to the review of roadworthiness regulations nationally by the National Transport Commission (NTC). “