C&L, CICA, Features

Telematics key to road access

The role of telematics is critical to the success of HVAMS and this element of the project is being rolled out now by a team at Transport Certification Australia (TCA), including John Gordon, manager strategic development.

TCA is a national organisation that provides assurance services relating to transport technologies and data to enable improved public purpose outcomes from road transport. One of its key functions is to administer the National Telematics Framework, and to provide data management and analysis services to road agencies.

“As a result of recent ministerial decisions and in response to what road managers have been looking for over the last couple of years, we’ve developed a number of applications tailored specifically to their needs. This has been a progressive piece of work and it links in with a number of other developments, proof of concepts and trials in various states. All jurisdictions are starting to use telematics in a more ‘light touch way’ and Tasmania is amongst the first to really make it happen,’” said Gordon.

“Tasmania has effectively looked at the suite of different bits and pieces, the ‘duplo building blocks’, if you will and with us, they’ve put together a scheme and a set of business rules that will allow us to collect, verify and analyse data in an efficient, controlled way.

“The scheme and business rules leverage the new Telematics Monitoring Application (TMA). For those who are familiar with the IAP, TMA is a very different proposition. Firstly, it’s not evidentiary quality and secondly, it’s not focused on non-compliant data,” he said

TMA does not generate NCRs like the IAP does. Instead, TCA receives a stream of the data under structured arrangements with service providers, and permissions given by each transport operator, says Gordon.

“We then do all the data processing, we apply filters to the data, we aggregate it and depending on the audience, we de-identify it, and we provide the analysis back to road managers through an online portal.

“We provide aggregated and de-identified information about overall vehicle movements to Local Government road managers and State Government road managers. A small number of compliance officers will be able will be able to see identifiable data. For example, if they have intel that a particular bridge is being crossed at more than 10km/h they can delve into the data and go back and see who that might have been.

“This is focused on compliance and behaviour change, not enforcement. They are not looking to issue penalties or infringement notices. Rather, road managers will talk to the operator and ask them what was happening on this day. It is very much an educational and collaborative approach and we are seeing this working very well in other states,” he said.

The system will allow road managers to effectively monitor these vehicles and relate back to the access and conditions they have under the Heavy Vehicle Access Management System (HVAMS).

“All of the different systems aren’t fully integrated at the moment and it will probably be another two years before road managers can see integrated information with network data etc. But even now, road managers can see vehicles that have signed up, and have certainty about what is operating on their network and be able to see trends and patterns. We are seeing road managers in Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria using this data to open up access. The system means they have certainty, it removes the mystery around vehicle movements, and road managers will have transparency through this data,” said Gordon.

Gordon goes on to explain how crane companies comply with the telematics.

“It is an open market arrangement. Obviously, we don’t sell devices, we certify companies who will sell them. We routinely encourage transport operators to talk to these service providers and shop around,” said Gordon.

Crane operators don’t have to buy a new box explains Gordon.

“TMA has been designed to accommodate the use of suitable devices if they’re already fitted to vehicles. Furthermore, a number of new service providers are coming onto the market and they are bringing new technology and  new innovations.

“If a transport or crane operator has its own system which they are comfortable with it and they are using a service provider that doesn’t want to go through the process of certification, that transport operator can ask us to assess the system.

“We are happy to look at transport operator systems as well as certifying systems for the open marketplace.

“We try to make it as easy as possible for them to go to the open market to get what they need,” said Gordon.

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