Heavy Vehicle (Vehicle Standards) National Regulation

A heavy vehicle must have a mudguard firmly fitted for each wheel or for adjacent wheels.

However, subsection (1) does not apply to a heavy vehicle if—

the construction or use of the vehicle makes the fitting of mudguards unnecessary or impracticable; or

the body or part of the body of the vehicle acts as a mudguard.

Examples for subsection (2)(a)—

• pole-type trailers used to carry timber

• most road-making plant

• some agricultural equipment

A mudguard fitted to a heavy vehicle must, when the vehicle’s wheels are in position to move straight ahead—

reduce the danger of a person contacting the moving wheels; and

for the rear wheels—

cover the overall width of the wheel or wheels to which it is fitted; and

be fitted so the height above ground level of the lowest edge of the rear of the mudguard is not more than one-third of the horizontal distance between the edge and the centre of the rearmost axle.

However, a mudguard fitted to a heavy vehicle may be up to—

230mm above ground level; or

if the vehicle is built to be used off-road—300mm above ground level.

The outside of a rear mudguard, other than a mudflap, of a heavy vehicle that can be seen from the rear of the vehicle must be coloured white or silver if the vehicle—

is at least 2.2m wide; and

has a body the vertical measurement of which is less than 300mm at the rear, measured from the lowest point of the body above ground level to the highest point; and

is not fitted with rear marking plates or conspicuity markings in accordance with section 80.

In this section—mudguard means a fitting or device, with or without a mudflap, built and fitted to a heavy vehicle in a way that will, as far as practicable, catch or deflect downwards any stone, mud, water, or other substance, thrown up by the rotation of the wheel of the vehicle to which the fitting or device is fitted. sch 2 s 10 amd 2018 SL No. 89 s 33