Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland)

This Law may be cited as the Heavy Vehicle National Law (Queensland).

This Law commences in a participating jurisdiction as provided by the Act of that jurisdiction that applies this Law as a law of that jurisdiction.

The object of this Law is to establish a national scheme for facilitating and regulating the use of heavy vehicles on roads in a way that—

promotes public safety; and

manages the impact of heavy vehicles on the environment, road infrastructure and public amenity; and

promotes industry productivity and efficiency in the road transport of goods and passengers by heavy vehicles; and

encourages and promotes productive, efficient, innovative and safe business practices.

The object of this Law is to be achieved by a regulatory framework that—

establishes an entity (the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator) with functions directed at ensuring the object is achieved; and

provides for a database of heavy vehicles; and

prescribes requirements about the following—

the standards heavy vehicles must meet when on roads;

the maximum permissible mass and dimensions of heavy vehicles used on roads;

securing and restraining loads on heavy vehicles used on roads;

preventing drivers of heavy vehicles exceeding speed limits;

preventing drivers of heavy vehicles from driving while fatigued or unfit to drive; and

imposes duties and obligations directed at ensuring heavy vehicles and drivers of heavy vehicles comply with requirements mentioned in paragraph (c)(i) to (v) on persons whose activities may influence whether the vehicles or drivers comply with the requirements; and

includes measures directed at the matters mentioned in section 3(c) and (d) by allowing improved access to roads in certain circumstances, including by—

allowing heavy vehicles, that would otherwise be prevented from being used on roads, access to the roads through exemptions or authorisations granted in circumstances in which the matters mentioned in section 3(a) and (b) will not be compromised; and

providing for accreditation schemes allowing operators of heavy vehicles who adopt best practices directed at the matters mentioned in section 3 to be subject to alternative requirements more suited to the operators’ business operations.

For the purposes of this Law, a vehicle is a heavy vehicle if it has a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5t.

Also, for the purposes of this Law, a combination that includes a vehicle with a GVM or ATM of more than 4.5t is a heavy vehicle.

However, rolling stock is not a heavy vehicle for the purposes of this Law.

In this section—rolling stock—

1 Rolling stock is a vehicle designed to operate or move on a railway track and includes a locomotive, carriage, rail car, rail motor, light rail vehicle, tram, light inspection vehicle, self-propelled infrastructure maintenance vehicle, trolley, wagon or monorail vehicle.

2 A vehicle designed to operate both on and off a railway track is rolling stock when the vehicle is being—

operated or moved on a railway track; or

maintained, repaired or modified in relation to the operation or movement of the vehicle on a railway track.

For the purposes of this Law, a heavy vehicle is a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle if it is any of the following—

a motor vehicle with a GVM of more than the GVM prescribed by the national regulations;

a combination with a GVM of more than the GVM prescribed by the national regulations;

a fatigue-regulated bus.

However, subject to subsection (3), a heavy vehicle is not a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle for the purposes of this Law if it is any of the following—

a motor vehicle that—

is built, or has been modified, to operate primarily as a machine or implement off-road, on a road-related area, or on an area of road that is under construction; and

is not capable of carrying goods or passengers by road;

Examples for the purposes of paragraph (a)—agricultural machine, backhoe, bulldozer, excavator, forklift, front-end loader, grader, motor vehicle registered under an Australian road law as a special purpose vehicle (type p)

a motorhome.

For the purposes of this Law, a truck, or a combination including a truck, that has a machine or implement attached to it is a fatigue-regulated heavy vehicle—

if the GVM of the truck or combination with the attached machine or implement is more than the GVM prescribed by the national regulations; and

whether or not the truck or combination has been built or modified primarily to operate as a machine or implement off-road, on a road-related area, or on an area of road that is under construction.

Example for the purposes of subsection (3)—a truck to which a crane or drilling rig is attached

For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), a motorhome—

is a rigid or articulated motor vehicle or combination that is built, or has been modified, primarily for residential purposes; and

does not include a motor vehicle that is merely a motor vehicle constructed with a sleeper berth.

For the purposes of this section, the GVM of a combination is the total of the GVMs of the vehicles in the combination.

For the purposes of this Law, a road is an area that is open to or used by the public and is developed for, or has as 1 of its uses, the driving or riding of motor vehicles.Examples of areas that are roads—bridges, cattle grids, culverts, ferries, fords, railway crossings, tunnels or viaducts

For the purposes of this Law, a road-related area is—

an area that divides a road; or

a footpath, shared path or nature strip adjacent to a road; or

a shoulder of a road; or

a bicycle path or another area that is not a road and that is open to the public and designated for use by cyclists or animals; or

an area that is not a road and that is open to, or used by, the public for driving, riding or parking motor vehicles.

Also, an area is a road or road-related area for the purposes of this Law or a particular provision of this Law as applied in a participating jurisdiction, if the area is declared by a law of that jurisdiction to be a road or road-related area for the purposes of this Law or the particular provision.

In this section—bicycle path means an area open to the public that is designated for, or has as 1 of its main uses, use by riders of bicycles.footpath means an area open to the public that is designated for, or has as 1 of its main uses, use by pedestrians.shared path means an area open to the public that is designated for, or has as 1 of its main uses, use by both the riders of bicycles and pedestrians.shoulder, of a road—

includes any part of the road that is not designed to be used by motor vehicles in travelling along the road; and

includes—

for a kerbed road-any part of the kerb; and

for a sealed road-any unsealed part of the road, and any sealed part of the road outside an edge line on the road; but

does not include a bicycle path, footpath or shared path.

For the purposes of this Law, a court convicts a person of an offence if the court finds the person guilty, or accepts the person’s plea of guilty, for the offence whether or not a conviction is recorded.

For the purposes of this Law, a person is convicted of an offence if a court convicts the person of the offence.

Schedule 1 applies in relation to this Law.

In this Law, a reference (either generally or specifically) to a law or a provision of a law (including this Law) includes a reference to—

each instrument (including a regulation) made or in force under the law or provision; and

each instrument made or in force under any such instrument.

In this section—law means a law of the Commonwealth or a State or Territory.

In this Law, a reference to this Law as applied by an Act of a participating jurisdiction includes a reference to—

a law that substantially corresponds to this Law enacted in a participating jurisdiction; and

a law prescribed by the national regulations for the purposes of paragraph (a)(iii) of the definition participating jurisdiction in section 5, enacted in a participating jurisdiction.

A reference in this Law to a road includes a reference to a road-related area, unless a contrary intention appears in this Law.