Safety alert as number of trucks soars in Australia

In a report the NRMA reveals that accidents involving heavy vehicles cost more than 300 lives a year. Citing figures from the Transport Industry Safety Group, it finds truck crashes are costing the economy $2 billion a year.

"We accept that trucks have a vital role in transporting goods around Australia, with speed and efficiency,'' said the NRMA president, Wendy Machin. ''But this year, we think it will be absolutely critical - especially as we get serious about this huge increase in the number of heavy vehicles over the next decade - for all governments to ensure that trucks and cars can share the roads safely.''

The report coincides with efforts by the Rail Tram and Bus Union to get the transport of dangerous goods, such as fuel and hazardous chemicals, moved from road to rail. The union's national organiser, Bob Nanva, is working with a coalition of independent and Greens MPs to pass a private member's bill that would force fuel companies to haul petrol between rail hubs closest to the refineries and service stations.

The NRMA report, The Safety Needs of Heavy Vehicles in Australia, has three main recommendations:

• Heavy vehicles and trailers should be fitted with ''under-run'' barriers which stop cars from getting wedged under trucks during collisions and ensure that car seatbelts, air bags and crumple zones work.
• Anti-lock braking systems and electronic stability controls should be fitted to all new prime movers and trailers to help prevent trucks from jack-knifing, rolling and sliding after drivers apply brakes.
• Tamper-proof on-board monitoring should be fitted to check on the speed and operation of trucks.

''The manual log-book system for monitoring driving hours and driver behaviour has long since lost any vestige of credibility,'' the report says. ''Widespread abuse of the system and difficulties in enforcing requirements, along with high levels of fatigue-related crashes mean that urgent action must be taken.''

It also describes mechanical tachographs, which record the speed at which trucks travel, as an outdated technology that also ''suffers … from widespread allegations of tampering and abuse. Tamper-proof electronic on-board monitors should be required across the heavy vehicle fleet.''

Under-run barriers have been fitted to the front of many trucks in the past two years. The NRMA wants the safety devices fitted on all sides of heavy vehicles.

As the economy and population grow, the transport industry is expecting huge growth in the number of trucks. According to 2009 Bureau of Statistics data, there are 421,702 rigid trucks and 81,217 articulated vehicles on the road and another 22,000 light commercial vehicles. Between 2004 and 2009, the fleet of articulated vehicles grew 23 per cent and the number of rigid trucks increased 18 per cent. By 2050, the number of trucks is likely to triple.