Here we have yet another video showing us what we already knew, proof that cars cause accidents between trucks and cars, most of the time. This dash cam footage is almost unexplainable, as the car decides to try and get in between the truck and its dog trailer.
This is not just anecdotal, the National Transport Accident Research Centre, just published, shows again that the light vehicle is to blame around 80 per cent of the time when there is an accident between a truck and a light vehicle.
Clearly, this demonstrates the onus on improving safety outcomes in this particular instance must be one of improving the awareness among car drivers about just what is going on. The latest ‘We need space, to keep you safe’ campaign by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, alongside Coles is an initiative worth trying, but it is unclear how effective these campaigns are.
When a driver does a crazy manoeuvre like the one attempted here, they are clearly not even looking carefully at the truck. If the driver can’t even see the truck and trailer are joined together, how can we expect them to actually read the message plastered down the side of a supermarket delivery truck?
The NTARC Report for 2020 has this to say:
“Interactions between light and heavy vehicles remain an area of significant concern with no significant shifts in the data. In 2020, where a car and a truck were involved in a fatal crash, the car was the at-fault party 78.3 per cent of the time.
“Consistent with prior years, this proportion reverses when examining non-fatal crashes. Where a car and a truck were involved in a non-fatal crash, the car was the at-fault party 35.5 per cent of the time.”
