A free national truck rollover risk map is now available online aimed at helping operators be more aware of high risk locations and highlight areas that authorities can make safer for truckies.
The project was the brainchild of the National Transport Research Organisation, funded by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative.
Analysis of the accident database revealed 1,341,482 crash events from 2005 to 2021, with 107,349 involving HVs and 47,067 occurring near key freight routes.
Although the focus of this project was to identify rollovers, there is no category in the national crash database for ‘rollover’; therefore, ‘run-off road’ was used as a proxy, noted the developers.
“Run-off road crashes can occur for several reasons, and therefore, this classification is likely to include crashes that were caused by other factors such as fatigue or loss of control. The project focused on these run-off road incidents, of which there were 5671.”
The intention is that the rollover map would be accessible to the public but would also be available for integration or display in the NHVR Route Planner and/or other websites.
Its developers say the webmap is intuitive, allowing users to simply and quickly review crashes, select multiple background tiles and display detailed information on crashes and road segments.
“The approach could also be broadened beyond the key freight routes to the wider road network (major roads, for example), which would include a much greater number of heavy vehicle crashes,” said a project summary.