Evidence

Supporting Evidence for Speedometer Tolerance

The following is a list of supporting evidence regarding knowledge by the Government as to the problem regarding speedometer error.

	Basis of tolerance being applied to Infringement Notices
	What the Victorian Regulations state on vehicle speedometers
	What the Victorian Parliament Road Safety Committee report Walk Safety states
	What the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services said.
	What the Victorian Parliament Road Safety Committee said.
	What Monash Accident Research Centre has to say.
	What Victorian Government undertook to do.

Report of the Road Safety Committee

The Government is fully aware of the situation that applies to the current road fleet in Victoria as evidenced by information from the Road Safety Committee section of the Victorian Parliament web site.

Extract from Victorian Parliament Walking Safely - Report of the Road Safety Committee on the Inquiry into the Incidence and Prevention of Pedestrian Accidents dated June 1999 available on http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au

The Committee received evidence from the Victorian Police, including the Assistant Commissioner R.N. Shuey who confirmed to the committee the requirements with respect to vehicle speedometers and the ± 10 per cent accuracy. The following is an extract from the report, pages 25 and 26:

Speed Tolerances

Speed tolerance is the extra speed allowed by police, typically 10 km/h, before they can charge a driver with exceeding the speed limit.⁸⁰

The Committee considers the fundamental goal in reducing speed limits is to reduce the average speeds at which vehicles travel. Allowing a speed tolerance above the posted speed limit is therefore counter-productive and a hazard not only to pedestrians but to every road user.

However in evidence to the Committee it was found that speed tolerances are permitted by the Australian Design Rules on vehicle speedometers. In correspondence the Victoria Police stated that:

Australian Design Rules (ADR's) 18/00 at 18.5.1.1. states, Unless otherwise `approved' every vehicle shall be fitted with a speedometer which shall:

18.5.1.1.1 indicate vehicle speed only in kilometres per hour, and

18.5.1.1.2 indicate the actual vehicle speed, for speeds above 40 km/h, to an accuracy of +/- 10 percent.⁸¹

In addition to the ADR, Victoria Police are required by legislation to add a further 3 km/h when speeding drivers are detected by speed cameras.⁸² Therefore, in a 60 km/h zone drivers will not be booked for speeding until they reach speeds of 70 km/h or higher. For laser or radar detectors the legislation allows a 2 km/h leniency. ⁸³

Through the years Victoria Police have adopted 9 km/h as the maximum tolerance at each speed zone.⁸⁴

The Australian Design Rules need to be reviewed. While +/- 10% may have been acceptable when speedometers were mechanically driven, it is no longer acceptable where new cars are fitted with electronic speedometers that can be finely tuned.

Victoria Police state they are concerned the community may be aware of speed tolerances and that "de facto" speed limits may be in force.⁸⁵ They state:

... a reduction in the current tolerance may lower speeds and reduce the severity of collisions.⁸⁶

As Victoria has one of the oldest vehicle fleets in Australia, with an average age over eleven years, a change in the design rules today would take more than ten years for most of the vehicles with mechanical speedometers to be eliminated.

80 Victoria Police, Submission to the Inquiry, 23 March 1998, p. 7.

81 Correspondence from Assistant Commissioner, R. N. Shuey, Victoria Police, 15 April 1999, p. 1.

82 ibid.

83 ibid.

84 Victoria Police, Minutes of Evidence, p. 237.

85 Supt R. Wylie, Victoria Police, Submission, p. 7.

86 ibid.

Note that the new standard came info effect on the 1st July 2006. The above is applicable to every vehicle registered in Victorian prior to the 1st July 2006.

Response by Government

In May 2000 the Victorian Government responded to this report. The response is published on the Victorian Parliament web site here: Government Response to the Report of the Road Safety Committee

Recommendation: 3.

That the Minister for Roads and Ports recommends to the Federal Office of Road Safety that a review of speed tolerances in Australian Design Rule 18.5.1.1.2 relating to speedometers is required as a matter of urgency.

Response

This recommendation is supported in principle. It is believed that most modem speedometers are already more accurate than that required in ADR 18 (+/- 10% of the indicated speed). However, the Commonwealth Government has adopted a policy of aligning the Australian Design Rules (ADR) with the International United Nations (UN) ECE Regulations. The Department of Transport and Regional Services is evaluating a proposal to adopt the UN ECE Regulation on speedometer accuracy. The ECE Regulation offers a number of advantages over the current ADR that would help ensure that, in future, speedometers would not indicate less than the vehicle's actual speed. A draft new ADR adopting the ECE Regulation will be circulated to Australian transport agencies for comment in May 2000. VicRoads will support and promote the adoption of the new ADR on speedometer accuracy. This process will take some time and will only affect vehicles manufactured after the introduction of the new ADR. (i.e. after 1st July 2006)