As we (Canberra Gliding Club) have a glider and trailer on the water at the moment I've been following the trailer registration issue up with our local authority (ACT motor registry).
As has been mentioned by others, GFA and VicRoads did some work about 4 years ago that led to the issue of a VicRoads bulleting allowing up to 5m overhang on trailers (the bulletin is available for download form the VicRoads website (www.vicroads.vic.gov.au), easy enough to find from the links. (National motor vehicle regulations specify 3.7m as maximum overhang.) It appears at the time there was some sort of understanding that other jurisdictions would also take the same path but it appears this was never set on paper and signed off. As a result, other jurisdictions have gone on somewhat separate directions. In talking with ACT rego people, they were quite unmoved by the fact that VicRoads had an eminently sensible way around the problem and, gee, it's all a bit hard. They were also not swayed by the fact that we already have about a dozen "non complying" trailers down at the field, many of them on ACT registration. But as luck would have it, there is a gathering here in Canberra next week of registration people from all the states and territories. The guy from ACT rego undertook that, if I gave him some background information, he would put together a discussion paper on the issue and table it. I have subsequently spoken to GFA in Melbourne, my contacts in the Commonwealth Dept of Transport and Regional Services here in Canberra (where I worked for some 16 years in the roads side of life), also at VicRoads, and found out the background to the VicRoads position. The original paperwork on the analysis of the trailers is still alive and well in VicRoads. Perhaps next week might just take us a bit closer to a uniform and sensible resolution. If we can't make any progress with ACT, we just might have to go over the border to Queanbeyan and register our trailer in NSW. That is, after all, where our field is. As an aside, if you are importing a trailer, make sure you get an "approval to import a vehicle" permit from the Commonwealth before it arrives here in Australia to save yourself a lot of heartache. Allan Armistead ph (02) 6249 6470, fax (02) 6249 6555, mobile 0413 013 911 PO Box 908, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia "When once you have tasted flight, you will always walk with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you always will be." Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519
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