Three year trend down for both segments, not helped much by articulated trucks
When the Transport Workers Union (TWU) raised the appalling issue of a doubling of truck-driver fatalities, what was not mentioned was a sliver of a silver lining in the continuing promising data on heavy-rigid trucks.
Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) figures for the first quarter of this year showed fatalities in crashes involving heavy rigid trucks decreased by 13% compared with the corresponding period one year earlier and by an average of 12.4% a year over the three years to September 2021.
The average annual percentage change over the past three years in negative in all states, with most down in double figures.
While the 12 months to September figures for 2017-2019 were in the 80s, this year’s figure is 60.
Heavy-rigid truck accident fatalities were stubbornly high during the last decade, but this segment has turned the trends on their head.
See how the BITRE figures were in the first quarter of 2021, here
The good news is countered by a concerning rise for articulated trucks.
Fatalities in crashes involving articulated trucks rose 17.2% per cent when compared with the corresponding period one year earlier and by an average of 4.6% a year over the three years to September 2021.
This ends a sequence of three years when the relevant 12-month figures was in the 90, having ended up at 109.
While caution must be used when dealing with statistically limited numbers, authorities in Western Australia and Queensland will be concerned at the respective spikes during the year to September 2021, with the former up from 23 to 46 and the latter from a recent-record low of six to 14.
Despite that, the three year average for both segments is still down 1.9%, though the past we month period was up 4.4%