We rely on trucks to keep Australia moving, delivering everything from groceries to building supplies across the country. However, when something goes wrong on the road, the consequences can be devastating.
Truck accidents might not happen as often as other crashes, but when they do, they’re far more likely to result in serious injury or loss of life. So the question is: are we doing enough to keep drivers, and everyone around them, safe?
In this guide, we go through the latest trends in heavy vehicle accidents across Australia, unpack the key causes, and explain what support is available if you’ve been affected by a truck-related incident.
Recent Trends in Truck Fatalities: A Positive Direction
On a positive note, recent data shows an encouraging trend in heavy vehicle safety outcomes. In the 12 months ending September 2024, Australia recorded a significant 17.6% decrease in fatalities involving heavy trucks compared to the previous year. During that period, total deaths dropped to 154.
Annual Heavy Truck Fatalities (2021-2024)
Source: Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics (BITRE)
The above is a rare bright spot in Australia’s road safety picture. While the overall national road toll rose by 5.2% during the same period, heavy vehicle fatalities bucked the trend. This suggests that targeted safety measures in the trucking industry may finally be paying off.
Who Is Most Affected by Truck Accidents?
Still, truck accidents are happening so understanding who is most at risk is very important. We still need to keep developing targeted safety interventions to reduce as many accidents as possible involving these heavy vehicles. Based on national data, the distribution of fatalities in crashes involving heavy trucks typically follows this pattern:
- Light vehicle occupants: Approximately 50%
- Heavy truck occupants: Approximately 25%
- Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists): Approximately 25%
What’s most striking is that around 75% of people killed in truck crashes aren’t inside the truck, they’re other road users. It’s a reminder of the sheer force heavy vehicles carry, and the serious risks they pose to those around them.
Serious Injuries: A Complex and Concerning Picture
The drop in fatalities is a step in the right direction, but the story doesn’t end there. Serious injury data paints a more complicated picture, and it’s one that raises real concerns.
The Data Challenge
A major impediment to understanding the full impact of truck accidents is the lack of consistent, timely national data on serious injuries. Key issues include:
- Data lags: Hospital data typically has a 1-2 year reporting delay
- Definitional variations: Different jurisdictions use different criteria for classifying injury severity
- Linking difficulties: Connecting police crash reports with hospital records is complex
Available Injury Insights
Even with the gaps and limitations, the data still tells us something important. It offers valuable insights into where things are going wrong, and what needs to change.
- Approximately 510 heavy truck occupants are hospitalised annually due to road crashes
- Around 30-34% of these hospitalised truck occupants sustain high threat-to-life injuries
- Total serious injuries from road crashes across all vehicle types number around 40,000 annually
There are worrying signs that serious injuries aren’t falling at the same rate as fatalities, and in some places, they may even be rising. Several states have reported increases in hospitalisations from road crashes, with New South Wales recording a 4% rise in the year ending June 2023.
Geographic Variations Across Australia
Truck safety outcomes aren’t the same everywhere. Across Australia, the risks vary depending on where you drive. These are shaped by differences in road quality, traffic mix, and how safety laws are enforced.
State-by-State Fatality Comparison (Year to September 2024)
Source: BITRE Road Deaths In Crashes Involving Heavy Vehicles Quarterly Bulletins
These figures show just how much truck safety outcomes can vary by state. Victoria and Queensland both saw encouraging drops in articulated truck fatalities, while New South Wales bucked the national trend with an increase. Western Australia also recorded a high number of rigid truck fatalities, on par with NSW, which may reflect the demands of the state’s mining and heavy freight industries.
What Causes Truck Crashes?
To prevent serious truck crashes, we first need to understand what’s causing them. Detailed investigations, like those by the National Truck Accident Research Centre (NTARC), offer valuable insights into the real-world factors behind these incidents.
Human Factors Dominate
When it comes to serious truck crashes, it’s often not the vehicle or the road, it’s human error. Time and again, driver behaviour is the leading factor behind these incidents.
- Inattention/Distraction: This has become the most prevalent cause in recent years, doubling the rate of any other single cause and showing a 75% increase since 2022 (a 2.6-fold increase over five years)
- Driver Error: A significant contributor (42.9% in 2021 data)
- Inappropriate Speed: Increased by 41% over five years, with 89% of these incidents involving a single vehicle, mostly running off the path on curves
- Inadequate Following Distance: Increased by 73.5% over five years, predominantly resulting in rear-end collisions in major cities
- Fatigue: While historically a major factor, this has declined significantly following regulatory reforms (from over 27% to around 8.2% in 2021)
Fault in Multi-Vehicle Crashes
One striking statistic stands out: in about 80% of fatal crashes between a heavy truck and a lighter vehicle, it’s the driver of the smaller vehicle who’s found to be mostly at fault. This isn’t just a number, it’s a reminder that improving truck safety isn’t only about truck drivers. It means tackling risky behaviour from all road users.
Common Injuries in Truck Accidents
Because smaller vehicles offer little protection in a crash with a truck, the injuries are often severe, and sometimes life-changing.
Most Common Injury Types
- Fractures: These are among the most frequent injuries reported in hospitalised cases
- Limb Injuries: The upper and lower limbs are particularly vulnerable
- Head Injuries: Traumatic brain injuries are a major concern due to their potential for long-term disability and death
- Chest Injuries: Injuries to the chest are frequently associated with fatal outcomes
- Spinal Injuries: Damage to the spine can result in paralysis and other severe, permanent disabilities
Factors Influencing Truck Safety Outcomes
A number of forces are driving the current trends in truck accidents and injuries, some positive, others more concerning.
Policy and Legislation Impact
- Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) and Chain of Responsibility (CoR): These frameworks extend legal accountability for heavy vehicle safety beyond the driver to all parties in the transport supply chain. Initial assessments suggest they've had a positive impact, particularly the fatigue-related provisions implemented from 2008, which contributed to reductions in fatigue-related incidents.
- Fatigue Management Regulations: The HVNL mandates specific work and rest hours for heavy vehicle drivers, operating under a three-tiered system: Standard Hours, Basic Fatigue Management (BFM), and Advanced Fatigue Management (AFM). The introduction of these regulations correlated with a significant drop in fatigue-related crashes.
Operational Influences
- Performance-Based Standards (PBS): The PBS scheme allows for innovative vehicle designs that meet specific safety and infrastructure performance standards. Research has found that PBS vehicles have significantly lower crash rates per kilometre travelled compared to conventional heavy vehicles performing similar tasks, PBS articulated combinations showed a crash rate nearly 70% lower than conventional counterparts.
- Freight Task Growth: Australia's road freight task has grown consistently and is projected to continue expanding, increasing overall heavy vehicle exposure on the road network.
Safety Technology Adoption
New safety tech is changing the game for heavy vehicles. Features like collision warnings, lane-keeping systems, and automatic braking have real potential to reduce both the number of crashes and how serious they are when they happen.
- Electronic Stability Control (ESC): Estimated to prevent up to 56% of relevant fatal crashes
- Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB): Estimated to prevent 20-50% of relevant crashes
- Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS): Estimated to prevent 4-15% of relevant fatal crashes
While more new trucks are hitting the road with advanced safety tech, many older vehicles are still missing out. Speeding up the rollout of proven technologies across the whole fleet could be a game-changer in reducing serious injuries and fatalities.
Compensation and Support Options
If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, you may have access to different types of support. From help with medical costs, lost income, or long-term recovery, learning your options for financial support is very important.
Motor Vehicle Accident Compensation
If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, especially if someone else was at fault, you may be entitled to motor and car accident compensation through a few different pathways, including:
- Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance claims: Covering medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, lost income, and compensation for pain and suffering in serious cases
- Public liability claims: When accidents involve hazards in public spaces
- Common law damages claims: For negligence by other road users or parties in the transport chain
Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) Claims
If a truck accident leaves you with serious injuries that stop you from working again, you may be able to access a Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) benefit through your superannuation. Most super funds in Australia include TPD cover by default, although the payout can vary depending on your policy.
For many truck accident victims, this kind of financial support can be essential. This is especially true when injuries like spinal damage or brain trauma affect long-term earning capacity and quality of life.
Workers' Compensation
If you were injured while working as a truck driver, or while doing a job connected to the transport industry, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation. This can help cover lost wages, medical bills, and rehab costs while you recover and get back on your feet.
Recommendations for Improving Truck Safety
The numbers make it clear, there’s still work to do. But with the right steps, Australia can make trucking safer for everyone on the road. Some of the most effective strategies include:
1. Improve Data Collection
- Establish a robust national serious injury data system with consistent definitions across jurisdictions
- Reduce reporting lags to allow more timely analysis and intervention
- Enhance linkage between police crash reports and hospital data
2. Implement a Dual Focus Targeting All Road Users
- Develop large-scale education campaigns addressing light vehicle driver awareness when interacting with trucks
- Enhance driver training on safely sharing the road with heavy vehicles
- Target enforcement on unsafe behaviours by all road users
3. Enhance Policy Effectiveness
- Strengthen Chain of Responsibility education and enforcement
- Evolve fatigue management policies to better integrate driver health and wellbeing
- Address the growing issue of driver distraction through specific policy interventions
4. Accelerate Safety Technology Adoption
- Expand mandates for key safety technologies across more vehicle categories
- Provide incentives for retrofitting existing fleet vehicles with proven safety systems
- Remove regulatory barriers to importing and using the safest available heavy vehicle models
Big Trucks, Bigger Responsibility
Australia is making progress on truck safety, with a welcome drop in fatalities, but we’re not there yet. Heavy vehicles still pose a disproportionate risk to other road users, and serious crashes continue to expose gaps in the current system.
Distraction and inattention remain leading causes of truck-related trauma, and it's not just truck drivers under the microscope. With most fatal multi-vehicle crashes involving errors by other drivers, it's clear that road safety has to be a shared responsibility.
To keep things moving in the right direction, Australia needs to fast-track the rollout of proven technologies, tighten regulation whilst improving national data collection. Of course, we also need to also ensure injured people get the support they deserve. We know that when it comes to truck safety, half-measures won't cut it.
Get Legal Support
If you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, seeking legal advice can make a significant difference to your recovery and compensation outcomes. Understanding your rights and options is crucial, especially when dealing with insurance companies or pursuing TPD claims through superannuation.
For further information or to discuss your specific situation, you can request a free case review or call Smith's Lawyers at 1800 960 482.
Key Resources
- National Heavy Vehicle Regulator - Regulatory body for heavy vehicles in Australia
- Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics - Comprehensive road trauma statistics
- National Transport Insurance - Research on truck accident causes and prevention
- Australian Trucking Association - Industry advocacy and safety initiatives
