New Fuel Efficiency Standard undermined by exemption for mega utes
Many Australians are becoming increasingly concerned about the growth rate of dangerous and fuel-guzzling oversized utes and trucks in our communities. Better Streets is disappointed to see that the federal government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) proposes to exempt Light NB1 Vehicles (Goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, and up to 4.5 tonnes; aka. oversized utes) from the Standard. This exemption completely undermines the intended outcome of the Standard, which is to increase the fuel efficiency to reduce the impact on the environment.
Photo: Oversized utes exempt from parking within car spots and Fuel Efficiency standards.
Better Streets has expressed significant concerns regarding this exemption in a submission to the government.
Some of the concerns highlighted in our submission are:
The exemption creates a perverse economic incentive to sell more oversized utes at an increased rate during the transitional period and will create political pressure for that period to be extended indefinitely.
The evidence shows that oversized utes pose a higher risk to people walking and riding a bicycle. Larger vehicles with higher front-ends significantly increase the fatality risk in collisions, as demonstrated by the following studies:
Tyndall, J (2024): A 10 cm increase in vehicle front-end height is linked to a 22% increase in pedestrian fatality risk.
VIAS Institute (2023): Larger vehicles increase the risk of serious injuries for occupants of smaller vehicles and vulnerable road users, such as people walking and riding a bicycle.
Edwards, M. and Leonard, D. (2022): Children are eight times more likely to die when struck by an SUV compared to a passenger car.
The NVES aims to avoid undue negative impacts on any group of people. Exempting oversized utes contradicts this principle by endangering pedestrians, people riding bikes, and occupants of smaller vehicles.
Better Streets has strongly recommended in its submission to include light NB1 vehicles in the NVES without a transitional exemption period to ensure safety and equity for all road users.
The Standard is proposed to commence in January 2025.
Read the Better Streets submission here.
References
Edwards, M. and Leonard, D. (2022) ‘Effects of large vehicles on pedestrian and pedal cyclist injury severity’, Journal of Safety Research, 82, pp. 275–282. doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2022.06.005.
Tyndall, J. (2024) ‘The effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk’, Economics of Transportation, 37, p. 100342. doi:10.1016/j.ecotra.2024.100342.
VIAS Institute Godart, B. (2023) Des voitures plus lourdes, plus hautes et plus puissantes pour une sécurité routière à deux vitesses ?, VIAS. Available at: https://www.vias.be/fr/newsroom/des-voitures-plus-lourdes-plus-hautes-et-plus-puissantes-pour-une-securite-routiere-a-deux-vitesses-/ (Accessed: 09 November 2024).
