Heavy vehicle fatalities rise

Report reveals significant rise in fatalities stemming from articulated heavy vehicle accidents in the 12 months to September 2014

According to the latest Fatal heavy vehicle crashes Australia quarterly bulletin, a report produced by the federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics), fatalities resulting from heavy vehicle accidents totalled 213 people in the 12 months to September 2014 compared to the previous corresponding period – a rise of 2.4 per cent.

Within those figures, 116 deaths were recorded from 104 fatal accidents involving articulated trucks, the figure equating with an increase of 13.0 per cent over the previous year. The overall trend, however, is positive: fatal crashes for articulated heavy vehicles decreased by an average of 8.4 per cent over the three years to September 2014.

Deaths for fatal crashes involving heavy rigid trucks increased. While 84 fatalities were recorded from 76 fatal crashes involving heavy rigids, that's a rise of 1.3 per cent compared with the previous year, and an average rise of 5.4 per cent over the three years to September 2014.

Fatalities for buses rose by two, with 16 deaths from 15 fatal crashes in the year to September 2014 compared to 14 deaths from 12 crashes the year before.

Overall, 213 fatalities from 192 fatal heavy vehicle crashes were recorded in the 12 months to September 2014, compared with 208 fatalities from 174 fatal accidents in the previous year.

Click here to view the full BITRE report.

Heavy vehicle fatalities rise

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