Ninety-one truck accidents recorded in the past six months in Victoria with June being the busiest month with 34 incidents
Ruza Zivkusic-Aftasi | August 1, 2012
Ninety-one truck accidents were recorded in the past six months in Victoria with June being the busiest month with 34 incidents.
Latest Victoria Police crash statistics, presented at yesterday’s Victorian Transport Association’s (VTA) luncheon, show 34 percent of the accidents were rollovers, with one truck tipping over each week. Nine of the accidents were fatal.
VTA Executive Director Phil Lovel says 90 percent of the accidents occurred in clear and dry conditions and were mainly due to driver error.
With up to 20 cars and trucks breaking down on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge each week, which is up by 10 percent during wet conditions, Lovel is calling on the Victorian Government to fine those whose vehicles come to a standstill.
“We need extra resources to clear breakdown vehicles that are out of fuel very quickly,” Lovel says.
“People run out of fuel and everyone says it’s poor people who can’t afford fuel. We are developing a reliability index to measure that problem.”
Vehicles are 44 percent of the time at fault when caught in an accident, which is up from 30 percent in 2008. Debris on the road was blamed for 35 percent of the incidents.
