This month The Institute of Road Transport Engineers of New Zealand (IRTENZ) holds its biennial conference in Rotorua. The theme of the year‘s conference is Rapid Change, Constrained Frameworks. 

“With the greatest respect to past events, I think this year‘s programme for the 16th International IRTENZ Conference is one of the strongest we‘ve put together,” said IRTENZ president Dom Kalasih. “Taking learnings from the last conference and delegate interest in the industry panel session, this year we‘re going to run two panel sessions. Last conference the panel session was about what opportunities and possibilities operators saw emerging technology offering. This year we‘re asking them if any of those opportunities have actually eventuated, and if not, why not? I think this will really give us a feel if the fast-paced emerging technology is really delivering benefits when it lands at the coalface.

“In the other panel session, Compliance Technology, I‘m really pleased to have representation from the new NZTA executive management and the new inspector leading police CVST joining other sector leaders in this space to share their views.” 

The IRTENZ conference is widely recognised as one of the key gatherings in terms of removing the politics and spin from the industry and delivering fact-based outcomes and results. As usual, a strong local presenter line-up will be supported by international guests offering insights and comparisons from other regions, as well as philosophical insights to assist in contextualising a rapidly changing industry environment.

Fuel, safety, autonomy, enforcement frameworks, modality, and PBS will all be covered in the course of the conference

“In addition, as well as some of our regular international experts joining us again, we have also spread our net a bit wider and this year are running a session on intermodal transport that brings CentrePort, KiwiRail and Mainfreight to share their views,” said Kalasih. 

Aside from the strong technical and academic agenda, delegates will have plenty of time to network and interact. “Perhaps most importantly, as much as I get a great deal out of sharing technical information, this is by far the best single opportunity to catch up with a wide range of friends across the transport sector. I‘m really looking forward to it.”

Register now at www.irtenz.org.nz

International speakers

John Woodrooffe

John Woodrooffe has more than 35 years of experience in heavy-vehicle-related research and innovation, specialising in the disciplines of commercial vehicle size and weight policy, safety, productivity, and performance-based standards. He is principal of Woodrooffe Dynamics, a consultancy focused on commercial vehicle policy, safety, productivity, energy use and emissions. His work informs business leaders and policymakers in matters of transportation safety, economics and the environment. 

John has worked extensively in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, participating in many large international technical projects. Over the past 25 years he been a member of technical committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and a member of several OECD technical expert working groups, including the OECD/JTRC project ‘Heavy Vehicles: Regulatory, Operational and Productivity Improvements‘. This international task force examined regulatory concepts and future truck technology and policy for sustainable road transport. 

He was principal researcher vehicle dynamics for the Canadian Size and Weight study completed in 1986. He has been an advisor to many governments, including the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and US Federal governments, and conducted vehicle dynamic simulations and analysis for the US Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Project and for the Western Longer Combination Vehicle Scenario: Vehicle Operations and Safety Analysis. He is presently chair of the TRB Truck Size and Weight Committee (AT055).

In December 2015 John retired from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) where he was responsible for Vehicle Safety Analytics Division, the Transportation Data Center, and the Commercial Vehicle Research and Policy Program.

Presently he is a distinguished visiting researcher at Cambridge University in the UK where he is participating in several international research programmes with Cambridge University. He is an active consultant to the OECD ITF in Paris on vehicle productivity and sustainability and to the World Bank in truck size and weight policy development in the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal transport corridors.

John Woodrooffe adding a global perspective and often contributing much to the ‘Why?‘

Laszlo (Les) Bruzsa, MSc Mech.Eng. MIEAust, CPEng RPEQ

Les Bruzsa, chief engineer, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) is Australia‘s independent regulator for all vehicles in Australia over 4.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass. As a chartered professional engineer, Les holds a Masters degree in mechanical engineering and his background involves more than 30 years‘ experience in various fields of the road transport industry, both in Australia and in Europe. 

In his current position, Les is providing national technical leadership in relation to heavy vehicle regulations and standards and he is leading the continuous improvement of heavy vehicle productivity and safety through the application of performance based standards and policy frameworks for vehicle standards.

 Les Bruza brings a plethora of knowledge to any Australasian gathering of transport thinkers