Rigid trucks are accounting for a greater share of road fatalities in Australia.
Heavy vehicle road fatalities have fallen slightly in Australia, but there are concerns that rigid trucks are becoming involved in a greater share of these crashes.
The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics’ (BITRE’s) quarterly report on fatal heavy vehicle crashes has shown that over the 12 months to June 2014, 213 people died in 192 fatal crashes involving heavy trucks or buses.
That is an improvement on the 231 people who died in the same total number of incidents over the 12 months to June 2013.
The latest figure includes 116 deaths from 105 crashes involving articulated trucks, a decrease of 1.9 per cent over the previous year’s figures.
Over the three years to June this year, the number of fatal crashes involving articulated trucks fell by an average of 6.1 per cent per year.
Sadly, the statistics for heavy rigid trucks are trending in the opposite direction.
The 89 deaths (from 79 separate crash incidents) represented an increase of 2.6 per cent from the previous year. Over three years, the figures have risen by an average of 9.2 per cent per year.