All Transport
Moving Freight with Better Trucks
Research Report, Policy Insights,
18 April 2011
- The freight transport task is growing rapidly in most regions and requires effective utilisation of all modes of transport.
- The safety and environmental impacts of road haulage require regulatory intervention for optimal outcomes.
- Compliance can be improved greatly through legislation that assigns responsibility.
- Compliance regimes can be enhanced by exploiting technological innovations.
- A performance based approach to regulation offers the potential to meet community objectives for road freight transport more fully.
- Many higher capacity vehicles have equivalent or even better intrinsic safety characteristics in some respects than most common workhorse trucks.
- Truck crash energies mean safety regulation must pay particular attention to managing truck speeds and driver alertness and impairment.
- Higher capacity vehicles have potential to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.
- Higher capacity vehicles can result in fewer vehicle-kilometres travelled.
- The lower unit costs offered by higher productivity trucks could result in increased overall demand for road freight transport and a transfer of freight from other modes.
- Road pricing systems can be developed to manage use of the transport network more efficiently.
- Road infrastructure and trucks need to be developed in concert.
- Significant opportunities for improvement of the regulation of heavy trucks have been identified.
Ten Stylised Facts About Household Spending on Transport
Statistics Brief, Policy Insights,
1 January 2011
- Housing, transport and food are the main household budgetary drivers.
- Share of transport on total household spending has remained relatively constant over time.
- The share of transport in household expenditure increases with welfare.
- The main driver of household spending is the ownership (and use) of cars.
- Increased spending on transport by richer households is mainly directed to cars.
- Transport spending structure and level changes dramatically only for households with the oldest consumers.
- Unemployed and retired spend least on transport – but still rely on cars.
- Bigger families spend more on transport (and use of car).
- Degree of urbanisation has only a small impact on transport spending shares in rich countries.
- Transport spending is rapidly increasing in China.