Downhill braking law is an ass

One of our sharp-eyed engineering mates has picked up a serious legal anomaly in our road rules.

Australian Road Rule (ARR) 108 sets out the procedure for trucks and buses that encounter low gear signs: "If the driver of a truck or bus is driving on a length of road to which a trucks and buses low gear sign applies, the driver must drive the truck or bus in a gear that is low enough to limit the speed of the truck or bus without the use of a primary brake."

'Primary brake' means the footbrake, or other brake, fitted to a truck or bus that is normally used to slow or stop the vehicle." (Our italics).

The phrase that we’ve highlighted in italics is the cause of our concern, because exhaust brakes, engine brakes and driveline retarders are, by ARR 108’s definition, other brakes that are normally used to slow or stop the vehicle.

ARR 108 specifically excludes the use of any braking device, other than transmission gearing, to control downhill speed. This is patent stupidity, of course, but look at those who make the laws in this country...

We asked a number of road transport authorities about this ridiculous situation and none wanted to be quoted on the subject.

However, we expect that the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator is looking into the wording of ARR 108.

Mark Hammond from the Truck Industry Council believes that ARR108 needs to be reviewed and its intent clarified, as the current wording could make legally descending a steep grade in a heavy vehicle difficult or impractical.

"Enforcement activities based on the current wording of ARR108 could also be difficult and be open to legal challenge," said Mr Hammond.

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The Australian Road Rules (ARRs) are the basic rules of the road for motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, passengers and others.

The NTC reviews the Australian Road Rules every two years.

The Rules were first approved in 1999 by the former Australian Transport Council (now the Transport and Infrastructure Council).

The Council consists of the ministers responsible for road traffic matters in each state and territory and of the Commonwealth Minister responsible for transport matters.

These are model laws that have no legal effect. They form the basis of the Road Rules of each Australian state and territory. For the most part, each state and territory has copied the Rules into its own laws.

However, not every provision of the Rules has been copied exactly in each state and territory.

Also, there are a number of provisions in the Rules that specifically leave certain matters to state and territory governments to determine. One of the Rules that has been interpreted differently by state legislators is ARR 108, because too many police officers and transport department inspectors think that the driver is using his service brakes whenever his brake lights come on.

They don’t know that engine brakes and retarders can activate brake lights.

Scania Australia has spent considerable time and effort in explaining to road transport authorities and law enforcement officials that its safety-oriented driveline retarder activates the brake-lights which signals to other road users that the vehicle is slowing down.

These brake-light signals are considered vitally important for safety in Europe.

Back in 1978 we were promised national road transport laws. The National Association of Australian Road Authorities (NAASRA) published a thin booklet that spelt out national weight, dimension and other regulations covering heavy vehicles.

We were told that this was the beginning of uniformity across this wide brown land. Forty years later, there are thousands of pages of rules and regulations covering road transport and we’re as far from national uniformity now as we were back in 1978.