NATIONAL HEAVY VEHICLE LAW

South Australia Class 3 Truck and Dog Trailer (up to 23m long) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2022 (No.1)

1. Purpose

1)      This Notice exempts certain class 3 truck and dog trailer combinations that are up to 23m long from stated requirements under the (Mass Dimension and Loading) National Regulation (MDL Regulation) and provide network access to commodity routes in South Australia.

2)      This Notice revokes and replaces the South Australia Class 3 Heavy Vehicle 23m Truck and Dog Trailer Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2020 (No.1) and the South Australia Class 3 Heavy Vehicle 23m Truck and Dog Trailer Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2017 Amendment Notice 2018 (No.1).

3)      The South Australia Class 3 Truck and Dog (up to 23m long) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice Operators Guide, published and maintained on the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) website contains further conditions and specified information that may need to be complied with in order to use this Notice.

2.       Authorising Provision

1)      This Notice is made under the following provision of the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL):

a)      section 117 - Regulator’s power to exempt category of class 1 or 3 heavy vehicles

3.       Title

This Notice may be cited as the South Australia Class 3 Truck and Dog Trailer (up to 23m long) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2022 (No.1).

4.       Commencement date

This Notice commences on 4 September 2022.

5.       Expiry Date

This Notice expires on 3 September 2025.

6.       Definitions

1)      Unless otherwise stated, words and expressions used in this Notice have the same meanings as those defined in the HVNL and National Regulations:

2)      In this Notice: 

Dog Trailer has the same meaning as in section 4 of the Heavy Vehicle (Vehicle Standards) National Regulation. 

Guide means the South Australian Class 3 Truck and Dog (up to 23m long) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice Operators Guide, published and maintained on the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) website.

7.       Application

1)      This Notice applies to heavy vehicle combinations operating in South Australia where:

a)      The truck has a single steer axle and a tandem drive axle group and towing one of the following:

1. a 3-axle dog trailer.
2. a 4-axle dog trailer.
3. a 5-axle dog trailer.

2)      A heavy vehicle combination operating under this Notice is not permitted to operate under Concessional Mass Limits or Higher Mass Limits.

3)      This Notice applies in South Australia only.

4)      A vehicle to which this section applies is an eligible vehicle.

8.       Exemption - Prescribed mass requirements

1)      This notice exempts eligible vehicles from the following mass requirements specified in Schedule 1 of the MDL Regulation:

a)      Section 2 - Mass limits for a single vehicle or combination

2)      The exemptions in this section only apply to the extent provided under the conditional axle masses set out in section 9 of this Notice.

9.       Conditions – total combination mass limits

1)      An eligible vehicle operating under the general mass limits must not be more than for—

2)      If the eligible vehicle is a complying steer axle vehicle, then the steer axle may have an additional mass limit of 0.5t, which is added to the total combination mass limits in section 9(1) of this Notice.

10.   Conditions – axle spacings

1)      An eligible vehicle that is a truck towing a 3-axle dog trailer must comply with minimum axle spacing requirements listed in column 2 in Table 1, as per the spacing reference in column 1 of table 1.

Table 1 – minimum axle spacings for a truck and 3-axle dog trailer

2)      An eligible vehicle that is a truck towing a 4-axle dog trailer must comply with minimum axle spacing requirements listed in column 2 in table 2, as per the spacing reference in column 1 of table 2.

Table 2 – minimum axle spacings for a truck and 4-axle dog trailer

3)      An eligible vehicle that is a truck towing a 5-axle dog trailer must comply with minimum axle spacing requirements listed in column 2 in table 3, as per the spacing reference in column 1 of table 2.

Table 3 – minimum axle spacings for a truck and 5-axle dog trailer

11.   Exemption – Prescribed dimension requirements 

1)      An eligible vehicle is exempt from the following dimension requirements under Schedule 6 of the MDL Regulation: 

a)      section 3 – Length (combination or single vehicle)  

2)      An exemption in 1) only applies to the extent that specific conditional dimension limits that are provided in section 12 of this Notice. 

12.   Condition – Total combination dimension limits 

An eligible vehicle must not be longer than 23.0m in length.

13.   Conditions – Areas and Routes

1)      An eligible vehicle may use the “Rigid Truck and Dog (23m) (GML)” as published and maintained by the the South Australia Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DIT).

2)       An eligible vehicle operating on a network stated in 1) must comply with the following conditions relevant to it:

3)      An eligible vehicle is allowed additional access to parts of the South Australia B-Double Commodity routes as listed in the Guide and must comply with any listed conditions in the Guide.

Note:  All networks are published by the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport and are available on its website, known as RAVnet.

 The additional access provided in (2) is listed in the Guide as additional access, which is published and maintained by the NHVR and contains conditions of access.

The network map may contain conditions that only apply to particular sections of the network, or only at particular times. Conditions like these will usually be applied through the network map itself, but may also be published in the Operator’s Guide itself.

Commodity routes on the DIT RAVnet are normally limited to B-doubles or Road Trains. However, this notice grants access to the B-double Commodity Networks for 23m Truck and Dog Trailers when carrying the specified commodity (eg: a 23m Truck and Dog Trailer carrying grain may use the B-double Grain Commodity Route).