On the back of increasing road death statistics, NatRoad is urging all drivers and operators to consider mental health this National Road Safety Week.
The National Road Transport Association (NatRoad) is urging all operators to use Road Safety Week as a time to reflect harder on how Australia can reach zero road fatalities.
The association reports that during the 12 months to the end of December 2022, 185 people died in crashes involving heavy trucks. These included 89 deaths in crashes involving articulated trucks and 101 deaths in crashes involving heavy rigid trucks.
Heavy rigid truck involvement in fatalities increased by 50.7 per cent when compared with one year earlier.
“If we’re going to achieve zero deaths and serious injuries by 2050, a lot of work needs to be done,” NatRoad CEO Warren Clark says.
“We need to better understand the cause of heavy vehicle fatalities, particularly the fact that in calendar 2022 heavy rigid truck fatalities exceeded articulated truck deaths for the first time in a decade.
“NatRoad also wants a greater focus on mental health research to help prevent people choosing ‘suicide by truck’.”
Clark says 2022 research shows that 37.5 percent of fatal truck and car crashes (multi vehicle incidents) in 2021 were likely to be suicides by the driver of the car.
“That’s a staggering number. It is tragic, not only for the victim but for those truck drivers who suffer trauma from such incidents but who have limited ability to stop work and get expert counselling because their livelihoods depend on them keeping working.
“This is a sensitive subject but it can’t be ignored. Road deaths that are clearly suicides, and other intentional acts like murder, are excluded from the road toll statistics,” Clark says.
Clark congratulated the Federal Government for committing $43.6 million over four years for the new National Road Safety Action Grants Program (NRSAGP) in last week’s Budget.
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The NRSAGP has been established to provide grant funding to programs and initiatives which assist in the Australian Government’s commitment to Vision Zero and supports the policy objectives set out in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 and National Road Safety Action Plan 2023-25.
It will support data collection, community education and awareness, First Nations road safety, vulnerable road users, technology, innovation and research.
National Road Safety Week 2023 is an annual initiative from the Safer Australian Roads and Highways (SARAH) Group, partnering road safety organisations and government. The week aims to highlight the impact of road trauma and ways to reduce it and runs from the 14th to the 21st of May.