Heavy vehicle fatalities falling

Latest Federal Government report shows that fatalities from accidents involving heavy vehicles have dropped by 32.7 per cent over the past decade

The Australian Government's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics has released a report that shows the number of fatalities from road traffic accidents involving heavy vehicles has dropped significantly over the past 10 years.

The report, titled Road trauma involving heavy vehicles: crash statistics, indicates the number of such fatalities totalled 281 deaths in 2004 and 189 deaths in 2013 – an average drop of 3.2 per cent per annum.

Vehicle occupants accounted for three-quarters of the fatalities (the remainder comprising pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists) and of that three-quarters, 28.5 per cent were inside the heavy vehicle.

The report also shows around 1500 people are hospitalised each year as a result of accidents involving heavy vehicles.

A total of 65 per cent of fatal crashes involving an articulated truck occurred on national or state highways, while that figure falls to 41 per cent for heavy rigid trucks.

The report says that after taking the number of vehicle registrations over the past 10 years into account, the rate of articulated truck involvement in such accidents has dropped by 6.8 per cent per annum, while rigid truck involvement has dropped by 4.1 per cent per annum.

While the average trend over the past decade saw fatalities drop in accidents involving articulated trucks for most age groups, it rose slightly (0.7 per cent) for those aged 40 to 54 and increased by 3.2 per cent for those aged 65 or over. The picture is slightly different for rigid trucks, however, where drops were recorded across all age groups.

The report also examines whether those involved in heavy vehicle fatalities were appropriately licenced, had a zero blood alcohol reading, and were using a seat belt at the time of the accident.

Single-vehicle accidents have shown the strongest decline over the past 10 years, falling by 9.2 per cent for articulated trucks and 6.8 per cent for rigid trucks.

The report also reveals how registrations of heavy vehicles have been steadily climbing. In 1989 there were 51,300 articulated trucks registered in Australia; in 2013 this figure had risen to 90,904. In 2004 there were 274,400 heavy rigid trucks registered but in 2013 this number had reached 325,998.

While the report purely lists crash rates and statistics and stops short of examining the influencing factors behind them, it seems a combination of improving vehicle technology, improving roads, better driver training and stronger compliance are ultimately paying dividends in addressing road safety.

Heavy vehicle fatalities falling

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