ASTSA Chairman Says not Enough Known about Heavy Vehicles Accidents

Australian Road Transport Suppliers Association (ARTSA) has issued a warning through its chairman about the lack of clarity on assessing the risk of road safety incidents in the country’s commercial road transport industry.

During a recent interview Dr Peter Hart, the chairman of ARTSA warned that there is currently no clarity on how to assess the risk of road safety incidents.

During an interview with CRTNews, Dr Hart explained that there wasn’t sufficient knowledge available on the causes of heavy vehicle incidents in Oz which has led to the lack of transparency in risk assessment.

During the interview Dr Hart stated:

“There is just not enough information out there to enable operators to assess the risk of an incident and take the appropriate action,” he said.

“This conference will deliberately include various types kinds of safety incidents and not just fatal crashes, which often take centre stage. Operators also need to hear about issues like fires, wheel-offs and separations, as well as the associated risks for road safety.”

Source: http://www.primemovermag.com.au

During the interview Dr Hart goes on to explain the need for urgent collection of more information on risk assessment in order for operators to be able to make better and more informed choices. These better decisions will ultimately positively impact heavy vehicle road safety.

Dr Hart used the example of speeding heavy vehicles inability to hold the road, the reason for which we do not fully understand. Dr Hart stated in the article on PrimeMoverMag.com.au

“Take the example of inappropriate speed, which is often considered a main cause for crashes. For heavy trucks, this often means that the truck could not hold the road. But why not?

“Maybe operators just needed the right tool to assess which locations demand which speed to operate safely and what equipment performs well.”

Read more at: http://www.primemovermag.com.au

Another area of concern which Dr Hart highlighted is that of the impact of modern technology and how improved training can make a positive difference to heavy vehicle safety. Dr Hart said that often creation of additional safety margins will provide drivers with a false sense of security which ultimately negates any good from the initial effort. Dr Hart poses the question, “How can the safety potential be fully utilised?”

Dr Hart also explained the importance of sharing information within the industry. The post goes on to state:

Dr Hart said sharing information on near-misses could help industry understand the issue more in-depth and help it utilise technology like EBS and GPS more efficiently, for example by setting up “personalised black spots” for drivers.

Source: http://www.primemovermag.com.au

The article on PrimeMoverMag.com.au concludes by inviting members of the industry to participate in improving heavy vehicle road safety by attending the Improving Heavy Vehicle Road Safety Summit in April which he says is the initial step towards smarter risk assessment.

Tickets for the summit which will be held in Melbourne in April are now available online.

If you need to learn more about heavy vehicle road safety or your responsibility under COR legislation you can do so here.