An ATA chair wants a complete overhaul of road safety policy
The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) says it wants the next Federal government to reset the nation’s approach to road safety and productivity.
While launching the ATA’s 2022 election policy charter, ATA chair David Smith says he wants more emphasis to be placed on road safety.
“The number of crashes involving trucks is falling, thanks to the work of the industry and governments,” Smith says.
“But it won’t be acceptable until there are zero deaths and zero injuries on our roads.”
The ATA are calling for an improvement in road safety, and have listed a target they want to see reached in the coming years.
“Our target is for a 25 per cent reduction per year in crashes involving trucks, once the measures we propose get started,” Smith says.
Under the ATA charter, Smith wants to see:
- The Federal government fund and operate all major freight roads
- A 10-year, $5 billion truck roads and rest area program so truck drivers always have a safe place to stop
- Continued full expensing for trucks and trailers to increase the use of newer and safer trucks
- Air crash style investigations of truck crashes where there are lessons to be learned
“The ATA’s policy charter calls for an improvement in the industry’s productivity and the elimination of red tape,” Smith says.
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Currently, the ATA says trucking businesses need to lodge 44,000 applications per year to use roads that were built to be used, and uses recent examples to prove the need for a policy overhaul.
“The Tasmanian road access system shows it is possible to reduce this paperwork by 95 per cent,” Smith says.
“A policy reset by the Federal government would get the same results nationally.”
Smith also slams the government’s decision to halve the fuel tax for light vehicle owners for six months, due to the fuel confusion it has caused the transport industry.
“As our charter points out, the current model for setting truck registration charges and the road user charge on fuel is broken, we need a different approach,” Smith says.