In this year of gloom and doom it’s good to see one optimistic set of figures appear, as the number of truck related crash fatalities are down for the year until June. The latest report from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) sees a significant fall in the number of deaths associated with accidents involving trucks.
During the 12 months to the end of June 2020, 157 people died in crashes involving heavy trucks. These included 95 deaths in crashes involving articulated trucks and 64 deaths in crashes involving heavy rigid trucks.
The question will be asked whether this shows a Covid-based trend found in other countries around the world, where the reduced number of cars on the road during lock down periods reduces crash numbers, as the car is found to be at fault 80 plus per cent of the time, when there is a truck and car incident involving a fatality.
However, the overall trend has been down for some time and deaths have decreased by an average of 3.9 per cent per year over the three years to June 2020. There is particularly good news about rigids with fatalities in crashes involving heavy rigid trucks decreasing by 30.4 per cent compared with the corresponding period one year earlier; and decreasing by an average of six per cent per year over the three years to June 2020.
“Over the past financial year there were 157 fatalities recorded, down 17.8 per cent on last financial year,” said Sal Petroccitto, NHVR CEO. “This includes a 30.4 per cent reduction in fatalities involving heavy rigid vehicles and a 7.8 per cent reduction in fatalities involving articulated vehicles.
“Of course, any death in a crash is one too many and we are always focused on what we can do to make our roads safer for all users. We are continuing to remind drivers that we need space to keep you safe – targeting drivers of light vehicles, who are most often at fault in crashes involving trucks.”
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