Cheap truck loans are available through Business Finance Australia to assist operators comply with the mandates in the National Road Safety Action Plan. The 2023-2025 plan was recently signed off by the relevant state, territory and Federal transport ministers and includes mandating heavy vehicle safety technology.
This action plan is the first to be implemented in the large-scale
Safety Strategy 2021-2030 which has the key objective to reduce the level and numbers of road trauma quite significantly. The plan covers the strategies for 9 areas of priority and the different responsibilities for implementation assigned to the tiers of government – local, state and federal.
The plan is fully detailed in a readily accessible document, but in this
article, we are focusing on the aspects relevant to heavy vehicles. Aspects that may create the need for some operators to upgrade their vehicles with finance.
Road Safety Action Plan – Outline
Safe movements for freight and passengers and reducing harm for all users of the road are the aims of the plan in regard to heavy vehicles. The plan states that the Federal Government will, via the Heavy Vehicle National Law Review (HVNLR), work with the state and territory governments in developing a risk management approach to address driver fatigue at a national level. This approach includes compliance with HVNLR, implementing technologies as well as the review of other options.
The more specific aims of the Action Plan in regard to heavy vehicles is the delivery of the new Australian Design Rules.
These rules include:
- Lane Departure Warning Systems
- Drowsiness and inattention warning systems
- Lane Keep Assist
- Reversing detector systems
- Devices and tech for indirect vision, blind spots and similar issues – this is based on and subject to international developments.
- Intelligent speed assistance - this is based on and subject to international developments.
Response from Heavy Vehicle Industry Association (HVIA)
The industry’s peak body –
HVIA, posted a response to sign-off of the road safety action plan. In the statement, Todd Hacking, CEO of the HVIA, said that the plan rewarded the association’s and its members, campaigns over a long period.
He said that that each action that could possibly be taken to protect users of the road was vital. According to Mr Hocking, that was the reason that the HVIA had established a Safer Vehicle Strategy and in partnership with the NHVR, created the blueprint for heavy vehicle tech.
Mr Hocking said that in industry weeks and at the big event of the year – Truck Show, innovation and safety were at the core and highly emphasised through promoting the new, safer models. The industry is advanced in many of these main areas and according to Mr Hocking, many fleets already have the safety technologies.
Truck Loans to Assist Road Safety Action Plan Compliance
While Mr Hocking commented that many of the fleets operating in Australia have the necessary and mandated technologies, there will be many operators that are yet to upgrade their vehicles. The timeframe set out for implementing the action plan may bring forward acquisition plans.
Operators may need to upgrade their ageing individual vehicles or entire fleets in order to comply with these new mandates. With the current high inflation and high operating cost economic conditions, the timing may not be totally ideal for many operators. But the prospect of more RBA rate increases in coming months, the end of the temporary full expensing and the availability of cheaper truck loans through us, may balance he downsides.
As a broker-style lender, we work with individual operators and with our large number of lenders, to secure a truck loan that meets the requirements of the business and at the
cheapest interest rates. We provide loans for one heavy vehicle, truck and trailer combos and to upgrade entire heavy vehicle fleets.
With temporary full expensing offering a very attractive tax deduction in this financial year,
Chattel Mortgage is a very popular form of business finance at the moment. But operators need to consider a range of aspects of their business when selecting the right truck loan to achieve their objectives. In addition to Chattel Mortgage, we also offer Leasing, Hire Purchase and Rent to Own.
To ensure all operators, including the smaller owner-operators, sole traders and contractors setting up in the industry have access to affordable finance to meet compliance requirements, we offer specialist truck loans. These include
No Docs and Low Docs Truck Loans at workable, cost-effective rates and conditions.
The objectives of this Road Safety Action Plan are in the interests of all road users and operating a vehicle with the mandatory technologies is vital to achieving the aims of the strategy. If you need to upgrade your heavy vehicles to safer, newer models, speak with us about affordable truck loans.
For cheap interest rates on truck loans, contact Business Finance on 1300 000 033
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