National Truck Accident Research Centre to report annually
Truck insurer National Transport Insurance (NTI) will look to have its National Truck Accident Research Centre (NTARC) truck crash report released more often.
The Major Accident Research Report is a biannual examination of NTI-insured heavy truck accidents NTI-insured where the quantum of the loss exceeds $50,000.
It reviews heavy vehicle accidents in the ‘hire and reward’ freight sector where the commercial vehicle’s payload exceeds five tonnes.
Typically the report is based on incidents from two years previous.
So, the most recent one, published last year reviewed 606 truck crash incidents reported to NTI during 2015. The aggregate cost of losses in this study was $85.4m which includes own, third party vehicle and property damage.
“In 2019, we will be releasing our eighth in the series of major accident investigation reports,” NTI CEO Tony Clark tells the recent Supply Chain Safety and Compliance Summit.
“We are trying to improve the data and make it easier to get at and collect more data.
“And we also want to make it more frequent.
“So, starting in 2019, we will be making the Major Accident Research Report an annual publication and reducing the lag to 12 months.”
The move is seen as necessary given the pace of change in the trucking industry.
The commitment recognises the need for the industry to have qualitative data available to it and NTI’s view that it needs to be a part of the industry rather than just a service provider.
Clark paid tribute to NTARC founder and director of research Owen Driscoll, who retired from the role last year, saying the centre was “a real legacy” that he has left the industry.