Australia: New Australian Design Rule for Lane Departure Warning Systems
The Australian Government is examining the case for regulating the fitment of Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS) in heavy vehicles through the Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
The impact of road trauma is significant, costing the Australian economy approximately $30 billion per year with heavy vehicle crashes comprising approximately $1.5 billion. Currently it is not a requirement for heavy vehicles to be fitted with a lane departure warning system (LDWS) even though there could be considerable benefits to all road users and the wider community.
A LDWS can increase the driver’s alertness to an unintentional lane departure, helping to reduce the number of collisions resulting in severe or fatal injuries. This new ADR would be ADR 99/00. The vehicles affected fall under ADR sub-category MD, ME, NB and NC.
It is proposed that ADR 99/00 would adopt the requirements for LDWS contained in United Nations (UN) Regulation No. 130 –Uniform provisions concerning the approval of motor vehicles with regard to the Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS).