Truck safety improving but issues remain

Truck drivers should be considered integral to the Australian government’s planned road safety education given the industry’s improving safety record, said the Australian Trucking Association (ATA).

ATA chair, Mark Parry, said the trucking industry’s safety record has improved considerably in the past decades.

But he said the National Truck Accident Research Centre’s 2024 major incidents report, released this week, still raised concerns.

“Our industry is much safer than it used to be,” Mr Parry said.

“For example, there were 56 fewer fatal crashes involving articulated trucks in 2023 than in 2003.

“The increase in safety is even more marked when you consider that the number of articulated trucks on the road almost doubled from 2003 to 2023.”

Mr Parry said the NTARC 2.0 report highlighted issues that needed to be addressed.

“The report found that driver inattention or distraction incidents have increased since 2022,” he said.

“Incidents due to inappropriate speed have increased, as have incidents involving tailgating.

“These findings show that the government’s planned road safety campaign needs to reinforce good safety practices by truck drivers as well as car drivers.

“We all need to be reminded to pay attention, slow down and stay back from the vehicle in front.”

Mr Parry also said that the growing number of alerts from in-cab technology is also a distraction issue.

“Drivers need alerts that are urgent and important – such as warnings about drowsiness or lane keeping – but don’t need unimportant alerts while they are focused on driving,” he said.

Mr Parry urged the government to support businesses to upgrade their fleets to trucks with the latest safety technologies.

“Technologies like electronic stability control and advanced emergency braking save lives, but trucking businesses need support to buy new trucks,” he said.

“We are arguing that the government should permanently reinstate full expensing, so businesses can bring forward their fleet upgrades to improve their safety, productivity and sustainability now.”

The call for the national road safety campaign to include truck messages was a key recommendation of the ATA’s 2024 Workforce and Driver Training Summit.

The summit brought together leaders from the ATA’s 10 member associations, as well as staff from road transport businesses involved in driving, training, scheduling, compliance, regulation and other activities that influence on-road behaviour.

NTARC 2.0 is a partnership between the Monash University Accident Research Centre, the National Road Safety Partnership Program and NTI. The ATA received an early version of the 2024 report for summit participants.

The government provided $10.8 million for the campaign in the 2024-25 Budget.

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