Tenders

APT6654 Assessing Impacts of Proposed Increased Axle Loads for Low Emission Heavy Vehicles on Pavements and Surfacings

Purpose:

To inform road asset owners the likely treatments required to manage increased damage to pavement and surfacings that would result from increases to axle mass limits and to quantify the technical, financial and carbon emissions impacts of those required treatments.

Scope:

The project will identify the types of pavement and surfacings which will be particularly vulnerable to the proposed increase in axle mass limits for low emission heavy vehicles, and identify the likely treatments required to mitigate or repair damage to those pavements and surfacings. Guidance and typical examples quantifying the increase in treatment intervention, increased cost and increased emissions will be provided.

The project will focus on investigating in more detail the single steer axle mass limit increases considered under Austroads project NEF6392 Future Freight Vehicles and Buses Implications for Road Managers and document and expand on the supplementary qualitative assessment undertaken by NTRO under that project. It is noted that twin steer axle truck configurations represent only a small percentage of the freight industry fleet, and have not been the subject of proposed axle mass limit increases.

The scope of the project includes the following:

• Conducting a review and consider available information from Austroads project NEF6392 Future Freight Vehicles and Buses Implications for Road Managers.
• Considering any early findings from Austroads project APT6117 Assessing Impacts of Heavy Vehicle Increased Axle Loads on Pavements.
• Undertake a quantitative analysis of vertical and horizontal forces for 5 or more typical pavements agreed in consultation with the stakeholders to analysis the effect of the proposed increased axle mass limits for the following common vehicle types:
  • Bus
  • Rigid truck
  • Prime mover.

The project does not include laboratory, accelerated pavement or field testing.

Deliverables:

This project will produce the following final deliverables:

• Research report
• Webinar
• Project data with populated metadata spreadsheet.

Closing date: Tuesday 30 June 2026, 3 pm AEST

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SAG6410 – Psychometric Validation of Hazard Perception Tests Through User Testing

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to assess whether existing Australian Hazard Perception Tests (HPTs) genuinely measure drivers’ hazard perception ability—and not other attributes such as test taking skill, reaction speed, or familiarity with video based tasks—and whether they can reliably distinguish between drivers with higher and lower levels of hazard perception skill. This work will provide jurisdictions with evidence to refine test content and scoring mechanisms to more robustly identify and screen novice drivers with lower hazard perception skills.

Austroads seeks responses from appropriately experienced service providers to design and conduct a user testing study to support construct validity assessment through psychometric evaluation of light vehicle HPTs currently used in Australian graduate licensing schemes (GLS).

This work forms a component of Austroads project SAG6410 – Evaluation of Hazard Perception Tests and Development of Guidance, and is intended to complement the completed predictive validity evaluation of the HPTs.

The project deliverables will be used by Austroads members and their specialised teams responsible for HPT management, deployment, and GLS policy.

Objective

The objective of this work is to design and deliver a rigorous, evidence‑based user testing study that assesses the construct validity of light vehicle HPTs and provides practical insights into:

• the extent to which observed responses align with theoretical hazard perception skill
• implications for test administration and guidance.

Scope

The scope consists of four phases.

Phase 1: Project Initiation and Study Design

• Inception meeting with Austroads Project Manager and Project Control Group (PCG).
• Review of existing reports and materials on the Austroads and NSW HPTs (to be provided by Austroads).
• Finalisation of research questions and definition of participant experience levels.
• Development of a detailed study protocol, including sampling approach, test conditions, and analysis plan.
• The methodology should include methods to evaluate the validity of the 147 clips currently in use by Austroads and NSW.
• Identification of ethical considerations and confirmation of any ethics approval requirements.

Phase 2: Recruitment and User Testing

• Recruitment of participants across defined novice and experienced driver groups.
• Online or in-person testing of all HPT clips (147 clips from Austroads and NSW HPTs).
• Collection of quantitative response data and qualitative feedback.

Phase 3: Analysis and Interpretation

• Psychometric analysis of response patterns to assess construct validity (e.g. consistency, discrimination, alignment with expected hazard perception behaviour).
• Examination of protocol effects such as instructions, practice exposure, test familiarity, and response modes.
• Identification of implications for test design, question composition, and deployment settings.

Phase 4: Reporting and Knowledge Transfer

• Preparation of a final internal report documenting methodology, findings, limitations, and implications, including a practical summary suitable for policy and practitioner audiences.
• Updates to the Guideline for Best Practice Hazard Perception Test (not yet published).
• Presentation of findings to the PCG and Road Safety Task Force.

Deliverables

Key deliverables include:

• Internal Report on HPT user testing and construct validity.
• Updates to the Guideline for Best Practice Hazard Perception Test (not yet published).
• Cleaned datasets and metadata.
• Webinar or presentation on findings.

Interim reports, presentations, and meetings will be required to support delivery. All deliverables must be reviewed by a Technical Reviewer/Editor appointed by the Tenderer. Deliverables must meet Austroads report standards and follow the Austroads report templates.

Closing date: Wednesday 24 June 2026, 3 pm AEST

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