Heavy vehicle fatalities fall

Latest Government report shows heavy vehicle fatalities are continuing to fall, but it's not all good news…

Latest data shows 208 people died from 182 fatal crashes involving heavy vehicles in the 12 months to the end of June 2016, the fatalities representing a fall of 5.5 per cent over the previous corresponding period.

The figures were published in the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics' report, Fatal heavy vehicle crashes Australia quarterly bulletin, Jan – Mar 2015.

Some 111 deaths were recorded from 96 crashes involving articulated trucks, along with 79 deaths from 68 crashes involving heavy rigid trucks and 25 deaths from 22 crashes involving buses.

While the data still reflects an overall downward trend, in heavy articulated trucks fatal crashes actually rose by 6.7 per cent compared to the previous year, although the three-year average to June 2016 reveals an average decrease of 5.0 per cent.

The figures are rosier for heavy rigid trucks, where fatal crashes decreased by 13.9 per cent over the year to June 2016 compared with the previous corresponding period. Fatal crashes for heavy rigid trucks also decreased by an average of 2.4 per cent over the three years to June 2016.

The figures for buses look dire in percentage terms – fatal crashes for buses rose by 37.5 per cent to June 2016 over the previous year and by an average of 19.6 per cent over the three years to June 2016 – but the figures do come off a far smaller base.

A total of 22 fatal crashes involving buses were recorded over the year to June 2016, up from 16 the previous year.

Heavy vehicle fatalities fall

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