Session 11A: Environment 2

Marten Johansson presented the paper by Jacques Marmy of the International Road Transport Union entitled 'Sustainable road transport: a key component of the global economy'. The paper discussed:

• the modular concept and co-modality to promote better rather than more road transport
• emission standards to ensure greener road transport
• Intelligent Transport System (ITS) applications to increase road transport efficiency and safety.

The paper concluded that road transport in a globalised economy has become an efficient and unique production tool. As such, its progress goes hand in hand with new technologies, tools, methods and systems to make it the most flexible and accessible transport mode available to everyone everywhere. In this framework, the difficulty is thus to prevent misusing these tools and keep their use voluntary to all road transport stakeholders.

To investigate the effects of introducing LHVs in the EU, the European Commission's Directorate General for Transport and Energy ordered a consortium to provide an insight on six issues: meeting demand, co-modality, safety, infrastructure, energy efficiency and noxious emissions. Three alternative scenarios were drafted:

• 'LHV Full Option': allowing LHVs of up to 25.25 m — 60 t on the entire primary road network within the EU;
• 'Corridor': LHVs of 25.25 m and 60 t are allowed to cross borders, a corridor of countries (Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium) allow them;
• 'Compromise': LHVs of up to 20.75 m — 44 t are allowed on the entire primary road network within the EU.

The paper by Tim Breemersch of Transport & Mobility Leuven described the methodology followed to assess the two latter effects, providing a more detailed look at how emission calculations were performed.

Peter Hart from the Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association outlined a method for estimating truck drag forces for a model in the form: F = αV2+ βV + γ, where V is the instantaneous speed. The method uses the speed against time record from a roll-down test, which is obtained when the truck rolls to a stop from a high initial speed Vo. The performance is measured with the vehicle in various conditions (laden, unladen, engine engaged etc.) so that the relative contribution of aerodynamic forces, tyre drag forces, engine retardation etc can be inferred. Characterisation of the drag forces on trucks provides an important tool for research into the effectiveness of fuel efficiency enhancements such as aerodynamic aids and low-loss tyres. The paper presented results for roll-down testing on several different sized medium and heavy vehicles and reviews the various drag loss mechanisms on vehicles and describes their likely variation with speed.

Session 11B: Vehicle design and technology 2

John Billing from the Centre for Surface Transportation Technology, National Research Council of Canada described an approach to assessment of the handling performance of straight trucks. Handling describes the response of a vehicle to steering. The CCMTA/RTAC Vehicle Weights and Dimensions Study developed a handling performance measure. However, it was never adopted as handling is a rather 'soft' area, was not a significant issue for the tandem drive tractors being considered, and was difficult to relate objectively to highway safety. NRC-CSTT recently evaluated the dynamic performance of 13 straight truck configurations. Some of these had a self-steering axle as the rearmost axle, and it was evident they might become oversteer. It was therefore necessary to devise a simple and practical approach to assess handling performance.

Panu Sainio from Finland presented a paper on research which aimed to cut the aerodynamic coefficient of heavy road vehicles in half. There were two target vehicles, a long distance bus and a vehicle combination of 25.25 meters and 60 ton. The main objectives were to raise discussion about the potential of aerodynamics in the case of heavy road vehicles in Finland and to test one technical solution to improve the aerodynamic performance of the end of the trailer. This solution is called a virtual boat end and it is based on flow of pressurised air from the trailing edges of the trailer.

The paper by Johan Granlund from Vectura Consulting AB (Sweden) presented several methods to measure pavement damage that can bring health and safety risks. These methods can be used in new approaches to reduce risks on low-volume roads. Many professional truck drivers are exposed to unacceptable human whole-body vibration and suffer unacceptably high risk for work-related musculoskeletal and cardiovascular diseases. Pavement condition and truck ride vibration was used to predict compression stress in drivers' spines and a new pavement condition parameter was validated. It described undesired variance in cross slope (causing a ride where high vehicles were rolling from side to side), and a relevant limit value for this 'roll indicator' was drafted.

Session 12A: Vehicle productivity 2

Adam Ritzinger of ARRB Group (Australia) reported on a performance assessment and sensitivity analysis of a range of innovative quad-trailer combinations via computer simulation using PBS. The computer based vehicle simulations considered all PBS measures designed to address the safety of the vehicle in on-road scenarios and the impact of the vehicle on road infrastructure. The simulation results showed considerable differences in the high speed dynamic stability of the configurations. These results were supplemented by a field test program conducted using two quad-road train combinations in Darwin, Australia.

John de Pont of Transport Engineering Research New Zealand described research to improve the performance of New Zealand's heavy vehicle fleet in protecting the road and bridge infrastructure, improving safety, reducing environmental impact and reducing congestion. To achieve this aim, typical vehicles used in six transport tasks in New Zealand (NZ) were benchmarked against vehicles undertaking those same tasks in Australia (Au), Canada (Ca), Southeast Asia (SEA), and in the United Kingdom (UK). The six transport tasks analysed were passenger coach transport, bulk liquids and materials transport, 40 foot ISO intermodal container transport, and livestock and refrigerated goods transport. Four aspects of heavy vehicle performance: pavement wear, bridge wear, road width occupancy and safety were considered.

Erik Dahlberg from Scania compared different approaches on specifying heavy trucks. The actual performance and operating economy was compared for vehicles specified using three different methods. The first vehicle was based on market standards, the second was optimised based on operational factors given by the customer while the third was optimised using detailed operational statistics read out from vehicles in operation. Trucks often use less than full loading capacity. In optimising for the real need, there is a large saving potential indicating both lighter and more fuel efficient trucks, e.g. with down-sized engines. By utilising vehicle operational statistics and an optimisation program, truck specifications better adjusted to the transportation task can be offered to the costumer.

Session 12B: Pavements 2

Karim Chatti from the Michigan State University (USA) presented on the 'Identification of localized roughness features and their impact on vehicle durability and damage to goods'. The first research objective was to identify and implement tools to extract information on distress features such as faults, breaks, slab curling and potholes through the use of raw profile data. The implemented tools detect, locate and identify the level of surface irregularities; however, they do not in themselves provide guidance on acceptable roughness levels to limit user costs. Therefore, there is a need to develop a methodology to determine such roughness thresholds.

Klaus-Peter Glaeser from BASt (Germany) reported on the 'Performance of articulated vehicles and road trains concerning road damage and load capacity'. From extensive rutting tests performed in different European countries with different tyres, tyre configurations, axle loads, inflation pressures etc., a tyre configuration factor (TCF) was defined. The TCF value relates the pavement wear of a given tyre to the pavement wear of a reference tyre. Within different axle categories (steered, driven or towed axle) there is a wide range of TCF values. Tyre assembly (single/dual), tyre width and tyre diameter are the most important factors which influence the TCF. Axle wear factors and vehicle wear factors and the relationship with pavement wear was also discussed.

Lars Persson of the Swedish Road Administration presented results from 5 years of Swedish measurements with bridge WIM system during 2004 — 2008. The conclusions so far are that there is a considerable problem with overloading, in terms of both gross weight and axle weights. There has been an increase in heavy traffic and at the same time the amount of overloading has decreased. Data from the measurements gives an important input to new design models for road construction. Results from the measurements can be a good base for discussions with the transport industry about how to solve the problems with overloading.

Plenary session 5: Energy and environment — driving heavy vehicle policy, design and operations

Anders Lundstrom from Scania (Sweden) presented on the challenges to motor vehicles. The demand is for more mobility for goods and people with no increase in willingness to pay. Other factors need to be reduced such as crashes and emissions. Some argue that in the feature peak oil and gas will lead to a reduction in emissions. Average heavy vehicle fuel consumption has decreased by more than 30% from the 1970s but has been stable for the last 20 years. A side-skirt to improve aerodynamics may reduce fuel consumption by 0.6%. Other innovations include a system which optimises gear changes, a driver support system which provides feedback during and at the end of a tripworld-wide labeling for fuel efficiency and CO₂.

Anders considered that improvements to the vehicles by themselves cannot reach fuel and CO₂ targets and action in other areas (such as reducing congestion, improving rolling resistance and upgrading driver skills) will be needed.

David Cebon from Cambridge University (UK) described some vehicle modeling of fuel consumption using a range of vehicles and trip cycles. Congested motorways were found to double fuel use compared with free-running motorways. The effect was also present in urban areas but was not as strong. To harness the energy lost in braking a heavy vehicle, regenerative braking systems have significant potential for fuel efficiencies. David argued that effort should be directed to those measures with the most potential cost-effective impact such as:

• reducing traffic congestion (use HCVs, eliminate night-time curfews, optimize traffic control, reduce crashes and delays) — up to 50% reductions
• change logistic patterns (use semi-trailers instead of rigids, use longer vehicles) — 10-35% reductions
• regenerative braking — 25% reductions
• improve engine/drive train, rolling resistance — 5-10%.

Plenary session 5, continued

Alan McKinnon from Heriot-Watt University (UK) presented a wider logistical perspective. One study has found a huge variation in the cost of pallets carried per distance travelled. Some companies were fuel efficient but were poorly loading their goods. Others made their decisions for quite justifiable reasons. Advance warning would enable more effective vehicle use. Another study found that once all the constraints were taken into account, the scope for load matching/back-loading was a lot smaller than is often claimed. Also it should not be forgotten that congestion can also occur at factories, warehouses and shops. In fact, some would have to be re-engineered if night-time curfews were lifted.

The Freight Best Practice program in the UK has been influential in leading to adoption of fuel efficient practices by participating companies. However in many industries CO₂ is a small part of the costs and therefore it is difficult to convince CEOs that action needs to be taken.

Pieter Wouters from KiM Institute for Transport Policy Analysis presented a perspective from the Netherlands. He suggested that companies can take actions now but because many do not, government has to step in. Improvements in areas such as technology, driver behaviour and biofuels are not likely to meet government targets. So a study was initiated to look at a range of policy initiatives including km and CO₂ levies, emissions and fuel consumption standards, lower rolling resistance tyres and incentives. The most effective was judged to be an emissions trading scheme, some were more efficient and others had poor efficiency.

During the panel session, discussion addressed:

• the potential effects for alternative fuels
• the effects of using different drive cycles in the models
• placement of a labeling model in the public domain for users to check the efficiency of their vehicles
• buying on-line vs in person.

Tony McMullin, CEO of Australia's Truck Industry Council discussed a project which involved interviews with 1000 drivers. The feedback was that trucks were accepted, new trucks were assumed to be greener and safer but the drivers wanted to know in what way were the trucks better.

Plenary session 3: PBS experience in Australia

David Anderson, Independent Chair of Australia’s PBS Review Panel, spoke about putting PBS into practice. There is a clash of cultures between long-standing experience and new analytical tools. There is a need to work with communities (especially in cities) which are wary of large vehicles. Any lack of commitment needs to be dealt with where it exists and the ‘us vs them’ mentality must be eliminated.

Mark Johnson from Haulmark Trailers (Australia) provided a manufacturer’s viewpoint. Indecision especially on route assessments in urban areas was a big problem. Each state and territory needs a specialised heavy vehicle productivity assessment group.

Tony Miller from Fonterra (Australia) provided a customer’s view. He reported on a new design for a milk tanker. It is flexible, is safer and has better braking performance than B-doubles and causes less road damage. The vehicle is still having some approval problems and is not able to be used on some desired routes which are approved for B-doubles. In Victoria it cannot be run at capacity even though PBS says it can. The bridge assessment standards were also queried.

Steve Warrell from the RTA NSW (Australia) provided a road agency view. He said that there are 35 PBS vehicles operating in NSW. The application of the PBS scheme in NSW was described. The process needs to be streamlined especially assisting councils to undertake route assessments. He said that PBS did not really address infrastructure issues e.g. there are 177 timber bridges awaiting replacement by local government.

During the panel discussion, issues raised included:

• VicRoads had improved bridge capacity and allowed heavier trucks where possible
• bridge engineers were considered to be too conservative
• a national bridge register was suggested.

Session 8A: Vehicle productivity 1

Luke Callaway from ARRB Group outlined the findings from a large scale simulation-based investigation into the forces generated at the tyre/road interface of the drive tyres of tri-drive heavy vehicles while turning relatively tight turns at low speed, climbing grades at steady speed and during start-up. Vehicles ranging from a rigid concrete agitator to AAB-quad road train combinations were simulated with most vehicles being simulated in both a tandem-drive and tri-drive configuration. Specific reference to the tri-drive prime mover policy in Queensland was made with the study being intended to be used as a key input into the review of this policy.

Damian Walsh presented a paper by Mark Brown of CRC Forestry Ltd./ University of Melbourne, Australia which described a planned trial of two new high productivity vehicles for transporting woodchips - a quad-B-double and steerable wheel semi-trailers. The potential of these two configurations will be explored for their potential impact on transport cost, fuel use and related emissions as well as the logistics of the operations and compared against preliminary results from field trials to be started in early 2010.

Thomas Dessein of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa reported on a new performance based vehicle to transport steel pipes. As part of the strategy to implement Performance Based Standards (PBS) in South Africa (SA), a demonstration vehicle is to be developed for the transportation of large-bore welded steel pipes. The motivation for the research is to provide recommendations towards a suitable PBS framework for SA. The productivity and safety of the PBS demonstration vehicle will be compared with vehicles designed to comply with the current prescriptive legislation. The safety performance evaluation of the proposed demonstration vehicle makes extensive use of the Australian PBS legislation.

Session 9A: Environment 1

Bram van der Schaar from Hino Motor Sales reported on hybrid truck experience in Australia. Hybrid vehicles were introduced into the Australian market by Hino and have been used by several significant national fleets. The operational experience, environmental outcomes and also the financial outcomes of this experience were highlighted, including the sectors where hybrids are best suited in Australia. The paper reviewed overseas developments and the future potential for hybrids in Australia. It discussed the opportunities for hybrids to develop a significant market share in Australia and the factors needed to bring this about.

Neil Wong from the National Transport Commission, Australia reported on an extensive research program to provide a robust, scientific foundation for the development of actions to address the annoyance from engine brake noise. This research included:

• identifying what is it about engine brake noise that makes it so annoying to the community
• identifying a suitable noise descriptor
• roadside testing
• muffler trials
• an independent analysis of the potential safety impacts
• an independent analysis of the costs and benefits of the proposal.

This research was used to develop a proposed in-service standard which two jurisdictions are now considering adopting.

Panu Sainio of Aalto University presented a paper by Olavi Koskinen of the Ministry of Transport/Road Administration (Finland) on the impact of increased vehicle size on fuel and transport economy, emission reduction and road wear. A computer simulation system, based on vehicle dynamics, engine maps of fuel and pollutant emissions, other technical characteristics of vehicles and roads as well as driving technique (target speed/gear shift strategy) has been developed and validated by field measurements on roads. Fuel consumption and emissions are very sensitive to the road topography and speed, and therefore several road types and target speeds were included in the final model. It was found that all parameters reached better values, when the vehicle size was increased.

Lydie Nouveliere of the University of Evry in France described the development of an advisory system which provides advice to drivers on preferred gears and speed profiles with the aim of lowering fuel consumption. A driver training program has also been developed to promote more economical driving. Trials are currently underway.

Joop Pauwelussen from the HAN University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands discussed the impact of heavy vehicle weight on fuel consumption. Lower weight means a higher payload for the same fuel costs, which contributes to the global reduction of CO₂, and which offers both the transport company and the vehicle manufacturer a competitive edge. Reducing the semi-trailer mass requires a detailed understanding of the design and vehicle structure, of the use of (less conventional) materials such as composites with special emphasis on strength and fatigue, of the production process, and of specific assembly techniques. The project FORWARD aims at making tools available for the vehicle manufacturer that will help in designing semi-trailers with lower weight.

Session 3A: Policy

Loes Aarts from the Netherlands Centre for Transport and Navigation discussed ‘Where does the growth of road freight transport end and what can policy makers do about it?’ The main purpose of the paper was to take a logistics view of the possibilities which policy makers have to improve efficiency. The side effect of public interventions to improve the quality of life, reduce emissions or congestion can be an increase in road freight transport. Understanding logistics processes is therefore necessary to develop effective policies.

Gerwin Zomer presented the paper of Kees Verweij and Igor Davydenko from TNO in the Netherlands which described an assessment of the impact of long and heavy vehicles on future European transport demand and modal split. On the basis of the authors’ calculations, harmonisation of European policies to allow LHVs to operate borderless in Europe was recommended. The rail and inland waterways sectors will not suffer much from LHV use, however LHVs would apply some extra competitive pressure on these sectors. The societal benefits of LHV include price decreases for road transport, fewer heavy vehicles on the roads and less congestion, less energy consumption and emissions.

John de Pont from TERNZ reported on development of a complex modelling framework that describes the relationships between economic growth and freight growth. Data have been collected for the existing patterns of freight movements and these are being used to calibrate the modelling framework both at the national economy level and for several major industry sectors. The models predict total freight demand and the allocation of that demand to the different transport modes is done on the basis that users choose the mode with the greatest utility. To be able to use these models for developing strategies for achieving sustainable levels of freight demand, the relationships between the key economic drivers and the model parameter values that they influence are being determined.

Session 3B: Brakes

Peter Hart from the Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association described the development of the Australian Brake Balance Code of Practice. Achievement of good brake balance on heavy combination vehicles is a challenging task because of the large number of axles involved and because axle weights change dramatically as the load is altered. It is a particular problem in Australia because of the wide range of vehicle models and braking systems that exist. The Code aims to provide guidance on:

• What is the likely brake performance of a proposed combination vehicle?
• What can be done to improve the brake balance performance of a problem vehicle?
• What approaches are available to set standards for brake balance performance?

Maarten Johansson from the Swedish Association of Road Haulage Companies reported on a move to harmonise brake testing on heavy commercial vehicles in Nordic countries. A future goal is for heavy vehicle checks carried out in one Nordic country to be accepted beyond its borders. This would involve:

• consistent Nordic inspection regulations and measuring practices
• specification of requirements for roller brake testers
• qualification requirements for inspection personnel.

David Cebon from Cambridge University discussed a research project to develop a practical wheel slip control system suitable for commercial use on articulated vehicles. Novel methods of actuation and advanced controller designs are being investigated. When testing on the full-scale vehicle, the slip controller will require knowledge of several states and parameters that are impractical to measure in commercial systems. Consequently, sliding mode observers and nonlinear regression techniques are being investigated to estimate these unmeasurable quantities in real-time under various road and vehicle conditions. The algorithms are being validated both in simulation and against data from experiments with the aforementioned experimental vehicle.

Session 4B: Safety 2

Veronique Cerezo from the Laboratoire Regional des Ponts et Chaussees de Lyon, France outlined an approach to modelling heavy vehicles to identify risk. The more complex the model, the more difficult it is to operate the model in real time. For this reason, an approach has been adopted which splits the vehicle trajectory into a range of simple models. It is possible to quickly swap between the models depending on the vehicle trajectory. The intention is to identify risky situations so that warning can be provided to the vehicle operator in time for action to be taken.

Shaun Talko from Transport Certification Australia (TCA) reported on the development of specifications and test protocols for an electronic diary supporting the heavy vehicle driver fatigue legislation in Australia. Following the completion of a testing and development program, TCA, an organisation established by Commonwealth and State Governments to administer the Intelligent Access Program, has produced an initial set of specifications and tests for an evidentiary application. The specifications will be fully aligned to the Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue Regulations which allow for the use of electronic record keeping devices (also known as electronic work diaries).

Murray Johns from Optalert Australia reported on the development of technology that measures the driver’s level of drowsiness continuously and objectively. It uses a special pair of glasses frames that monitor eyelid movements unobtrusively, without interfering with the driving task. Drivers are warned with audible beeps and voice messages. The technology has been validated in laboratory experiments.

Session 5A: Pricing

Anders Lundstrom presented a paper by Olavi Koskinen from the Ministry of Transport/Road Administration, Finland which described a method to analyse how well the increased fuel tax caused by traffic congestion compensates for the respective increased external social economic costs. The study found the collection of fuel tax is very efficient and cheap compared to the costs of the road pricing systems. These two charging collection procedures were compared, results presented and conclusions were made.

Bernard Jacob from the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris described the new pay-per-kilometre trucks tax. It involves charging, through electronic toll collection techniques, trucks traveling the State Road Network (SRN). It aims to press the road freight industry for lower and better use of roads, and to collect new resources for transport infrastructure developments, in a clear inter-modal strategy. The eco-tax will apply to about 10 to 15,000 km of roads, mostly SRN and around 2000 km of local government roads. All vehicles over 3.5t will be included i.e. the 600,000 domestic vehicles and about 200,000 foreign vehicles that use French roads.

Matthew Clarke from the NTC (Australia) described how ARRB, with Austroads and National Transport Commission funding, has undertaken estimates of the marginal cost of road wear covering six axle group types with loads ranging from axle group tare weight to well in excess of the current general mass limits (GML) regulatory framework for a range of sealed road types. Through the use of a well informed pricing system, based on these marginal road wear cost estimates, road freight operators should improve their freight productivity while road agencies would be appropriately compensated for the road wear costs. Prices, costs and revenues based on marginal road wear costs would also provide signals for effective management of their road networks in regard to the availability of targeted funds for maintaining road freight routes.

Jorgen Christensen (Denmark) introduced the session by reporting that the OECD/ITF report was expected to be approved in the next few days. It was based on the work of 27 experts and took a short to medium term view of 10 years (to 2020). The following speakers all played key roles in supporting the production of the report.

Jeff Potter from the NTC (Australia) outlined the safety analysis which had been undertaken. Heavy vehicle safety performance had been compared across 22 OECD countries. Many differences had been identified e.g. the proportion of urban vs rural crashes, the relative role of causative factors and the proportions of single truck crashes. Hazard recognition and decision making by heavy vehicle drivers appear to be more than for car drivers. A key constraint on the analysis was a lack of detailed data to enable differentiation amongst the different types of HVs.

Anthony Germanchev from ARRB Group (Australia) described a benchmarking exercise of 40 HVs from 10 countries. The vehicles were assessed against 7 PBS measures using simulation and relative rankings derived. In general the larger HVs performed well but were not able to meet manoeuvrability criteria. This will limit access to many urban roads unless new technologies are implemented.

John Woodrooffe from UMTRI (USA) described a comparison of HVs against criteria such as road wear, impact on structures, safety, productivity and the environment. Larger vehicles were found to have positive benefits e.g. they were more productive per unit of energy used.

Barry Moore (Australia) stated that to get more productive vehicles on the road, there was a need to package up the benefits and get the community, media and political system on board. New technology is making the clear benefits of a PBS approach easier to achieve e.g. WIM and ITS. There is a growing preference to take a chain of responsibility approach now rather than tackling operators on the road.

Jorgen Christensen then read each of the 16 key messages from the OECD/ITF report.

During the ensuing panel session, the key issues raised related to:

• the evidence supporting a link between PBS standards and road safety effects
• means of convincing the political system and the community about the benefits of high productivity vehicles
• the possible role of involving experts in community engagement and communicating with the different levels of government
• making better use of existing spare capacity
• the need to upgrade driver skills to match the introduction of the high productivity vehicles
• the diversity of the certification schemes and local needs and capacities.

The 11th Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology Symposium commenced in Melbourne today. It was opened by Anders Lundstrom, President of the International Forum for Road Transport Technology. This is the first time that the four day Symposium had been held in Australia.

In introducing the Symposium, Anders pointed out that the global economy makes good freight systems a necessity. Problems are common in many jurisdictions and HVTT11 was an excellent forum for discussing these issues and identifying ways forward.

HVTT11 will feature over 70 technical papers which will focus on the key drivers of change and how these can influence future developments and government policy formulation relating to heavy vehicles. More than 160 international experts are registered to attend.

Key areas of HVTT11 will include environment and energy, vehicle technology and design, safety, infrastructure design and operation, standards and regulations, compliance, community issues, logistics issues, productivity, heavy vehicle transport policy and freight volumes and trends.

Plenary Session 1: Balancing competing needs

Alan McKinnon, Heriot-Watt University, UK spoke on ‘Defining a sustainable balance for freight in the community’. The demand for transport continues to increase which is likely to result in ever-growing levels of green-house gas emissions if no action is taken. There is a need to break the link between the economy and transport demand. Possible ways of doing this include improved fuel efficiency, alternative energy use, longer heavier vehicles, shift to other modes and land-use planning. There is a need to define the cost-effectiveness of each option.

Philip Lovel, Victorian Transport Association provided a perspective on ‘What do freight owners want?’ A case study was described which was aimed at identifying barriers to wider acceptance of new freight technologies by the wider community and the media. Trial visits and demonstrations were used to show that positive benefits were likely to flow from increased use of more productive freight vehicles.

Peter Sweatman, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute reported on ‘Freight issues in developed countries’. Some of the issues mentioned included congestion, energy, climate, environment, demand for mobility, increased freight task, lack of finance for maintenance and construction, and emergencies. Over 90% of truck crashes are due to poor recognition of hazards and decision-making by drivers. Some research thrusts and innovations aimed at tackling these safety problems were outlined.

Paul Nordengen, CSIR, South Africa reported on ‘Freight issues in other regions’. There are many issues impacting freight transport in developing countries such as lack of investment, corruption, cross-border delays, inadequate enforcement, lack of political will, other priorities, overloading, declining road and rail infrastructure, lack of expertise, systems and data, poor fuels and importation of aged second-hand vehicles. There is a need to leap to new technologies which are efficient and low cost.

Session 2A: Higher capacity vehicles 1

Bob Pearson (Australia) outlined the factors that have led to the increase in numbers of B-doubles in Australia from less than 100 to more than 10,000 in only 18 years, including industry innovations and government responses. The paper also outlined performance measures relating to the use of B-doubles in Australia, comparing the present position with the case that would have existed if B-doubles had not been permitted.

In order to address problems of manoeuvrability, both in the forward and reverse direction, and the issue of high speed stability, the use of active trailer steering systems has been proposed. Dr Odhams reported on research by the Cambridge Vehicle Dynamics Consortium on the use of active rear steering hardware fitted to multiple trailer LCVs. A fully-steered B-double has been built with new steering hardware fitted to five axles on its two trailers. Each axle is independently steerable ‘by wire’ using a special-purpose hydraulic steering actuator.

Paul Nordengen from CSIR presented the monitoring and evaluation results of two PBS demonstration vehicles that commenced operation in 2007, in the forestry industry in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, until July 2008. Initial findings in terms of road wear, safety, emissions and productivity were positive and a number of recommendations were made concerning demonstration projects and future research for the further development of PBS in South Africa.