General Access Vehicles &
Restricted Access Vehicles
Unsure of your vehicle type?
General Access vs Restricted Access
Is your vehicle a General Access Vehicle (GAV) or Restricted Access Vehicle (RAV)? General Access vehicles have as-of-right access to road network, as long you respect the signage on the local roads. Restricted access, not so much.
If it’s Restricted Access Vehicle (RAV), which class of heavy vehicle is it? What sort of vehicle is it? There’s Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3, but of course it’s not that simple either. They all have different sub-categories in each class.
Is there a State or National Based Gazette Notice authorising your travel on your desired route? If there’s no Gazette Notice, you probably need a permit. A permit needs to be applied for and permission granted from every road owner along the route you want to use. There’s a guideline to granting access, but road owners sometimes struggle to apply it.
If you have any questions or it’s fast becoming too much bother to work this out, get in touch by the button below and we’ll clarify the details.
General Access
General Access Vehicles are the simplest form of heavy vehicle with complete access to the Australian road network unless limited by posted signage. They don’t require a notice or permit.
They include:
- Prime Mover
- Rigid Truck
- Rigid Truck and Trailer (up to 19m length)
- Prime Mover and Semitrailer (up to 19m length)
- Bus
- Performance Based Standard (PBS) vehicle approved at Level 1 (up to 20m length)
They are required to comply with dimension limits as prescribed in the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and Australian Design Rules (ADRs) and can operate at General Mass Limits (GML). If an operator is accredited under the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) Mass Management Module, they can gain access to Concessional Mass Limits (CML).
Restricted Access
- Class 1 vehicles such as special purpose vehicles (cement trucks, crane, fire trucks etc.), agricultural vehicles and oversize overmass vehicles (e.g. low loaders).
- Class 2 vehicles such as freight-carrying vehicles (B-doubles, B-triples, road trains), buses, vehicle carriers, livestock vehicles and Performance-Based Standards (PBS) vehicles.
- Class 3 vehicles include vehicles that does not comply with prescribed mass or dimension requirements and is not a class 1 heavy vehicle (e.g. a B-Double carrying an oversize load).
Restricted access vehicles have two options to gain road access – Gazette Notices or Route Permits.
Gazette Notices and Permits
Gazette Notices
A Gazette Notice is declared under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and come in two varieties – national and state.
In effect, they act as an authorisation to the road network declared under the notice as long as your vehicle combination complies with the dimensional, mass, documentation requirements and access conditions of the notice.
For example,
- You will need a PBS vehicle approval to operate using the National Class 2 PBS Level 1 & 2a Truck and Dog Trailer Authorisation Notice 2022 (No.1) notice.
- You may be required to enroll in Intelligent Access Programs (IAP) or Road Infrastructure Managment (RIM) or Telematics Monitoring Application (TMA) under the National Telematics Framework to use the notice or gain higher mass options.
- Vehicles maybe required to be fitted with On-Board Mass (OBM).
- Vehicle trailers may require anti-lock braking systems (ABS).
- Limits to number of axles in an axle group.
Permits
Permits
If Your vehicle is not covered under a Gazette Notice, or you require access to roads that are not covered under the notice, or you do not meet the conditions of the notice you will need an Access Permit from the NHVR.
The permit application you will need to submit depends on the heavy vehicle class in which you are operating. Applications for permits must be applied for using NHVR’s online Portal.
Class 1 permit
Class 2 permit
- B-double – for travel on a road outside of the approved B-double network where a permit is required
- Road Train – for travel on a road outside of the approved Road Train Network where a permit is required
- Performance-Based Standards – for travel on or off the PBS network if the vehicle doesn’t comply with mass, dimension or operating requirements set out in a gazette notice
Class 3 permit
- Class 3 (miscellaneous)
- Tow truck – for tow trucks that don’t comply with mass or dimension requirements set out in a gazette notice
- Commodity Scheme permits (MIMS & MEMS)
Higher Mass Limits (HML) permit
- HML permit – is required for travel on a road outside of the approved HML network.
Solve your road access challenges by contacting us today!
Contact Info
Address:
Brisbane. Australia
Phone:
1300 787 259