The Australian Trucking Association (ATA) has called on the federal government to ensure that heavy vehicles and truck drivers are included in its planned road safety campaign.

$10.8 million has been pledged for a one-year National Road Safety Education and awareness campaign through the 2024-25 Budget, but the ATA fears that truck drivers will be overlooked.

While the trucking industry’s safety had improved markedly over the decades, the National Truck Accident Research Centre’s 2024 major incidents report, released this week, raised concerns according to ATA chair Mark Parry.

“Our industry is much safer than it used to be. For example, there were 56 fewer fatal crashes involving articulated trucks in 2023 than in 2003,” he says.

“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.

“But the NTARC 2.0 report highlights issues we must address. The report found that driver inattention or distraction incidents have increased since 2022. 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.

“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.”

3G closure extended

Optus and Telstra have announced a delay in the closure of their 3G networks later this year, with the networks now set to shut down on October 28 as opposed to the initially scheduled date of August 31.

The delay has come in response to concerns expressed by regional communities on not only mobiles’ ability to contact emergency services, but the fact a host of regional medical devices operate on the network.

Optus interim CEO Michael Venter says the delayed shutdown of the network will be used as an opportunity to ensure everyone is ready to switch to 4G or 5G capable devices come October 28.

“We are joining with Telstra to launch a public awareness campaign to really drive home the safety message and get the final groups of customers to act,” Venter says.

Mobile phones which still operate on the 3G network will be unable to contact 000 for help. The removal of the network is being pursued in order to free up spectrum for 4G and 5G networks.

Telstra has urged its customers to:

Check the compatibility of mobile phones by texting ‘3’ to 3498
Check that network connected equipment such as truck telematics is compatible with 4G by reviewing this fact sheet or contacting its supplier
Update Telstra Go Repeaters from 3G to 4G by following these instructions.

It is strongly advised to avoid delays in updating phones and devices that can only operate on the 3G network despite the two-month extension.

The closure of the 3G network was initially announced in 2019.