HEAVY TRUCK SAFETY IN TASMANIA

This project brief specified four tasks. These were: 1. analyse crash data for heavy truck/combinations; 2. analyse Tasmanian heavy vehicle crash reports and investigate the possible causes; 3. Analyse the inherent stability characteristics of heavy truck/combinations; 4. recommend measures to reduce the crash risk. Key findings of the assessment were that overall heavy vehicle safety in Tasmania is no worse than other states in Australia and is better than some. However, some specific categories of heavy vehicle had a significantly higher rollover rate than the fleet in general and this high rollover rate was correlated with these vehicles having a lower level of inherent rollover stability. Recommendations were made for initiatives to improve the rollover stability of the poorest performing vehicles and, at the time of writing, some of these are being pursued. A survey is being undertaken to determine the distribution of rollover stability performance in the Tasmanian heavy vehicle fleet with a view to implementing measures to raise the rollover stability of the poorest performing vehicles. Surveys are also being undertaken to measure heavy vehicle speeds through curves.