Australia’s peak membership association for road safety professionals and advocates has joined the trucking industry in calling for a national road crash investigation agency.
The Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) said the Australian Government must take urgent steps to address the persistently high rates of road trauma across the country.
It’s urging the federal government to legislate and appropriately resource a national road crash investigation agency, like the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which currently investigates air, marine, and rail incidents but is prevented by law from examining road crashes.
With over 10 times more fatalities on Australian roads each year than in air, marine, and rail transport combined, a dedicated, independent, no-blame investigative body is essential, said ACRS.
ACRS said investigations by the ATSB have been instrumental in identifying systemic safety risks and driving industry and government action to prevent further tragedies.
Applying this model to road safety would allow for targeted investigations, providing critical insights into the factors contributing to severe crashes, the association said.
“Road trauma continues to devastate Australian communities, with over 1300 fatalities and tens of thousands of serious injuries occurring annually,” said Dr Ingrid Johnston, CEO of the ACRS.
“When there’s a crash on a plane, boat or train, we do an in-depth investigation to find out why it happened and how we can prevent it from ever happening again, road users deserve the same level of investigative oversight to reduce these tragedies.”
Johnston said the most recent transport safety data from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics highlights the urgent need for change.
“While road safety experts continue to address preventable causes of crashes, such as speeding, drink-driving and driver fatigue amongst others, the absence of comprehensive, systematic crash investigations means we are missing valuable opportunities to identify and mitigate additional factors contributing to road trauma.”
ACRS stresses that the creation of a national road crash investigation agency would complement existing efforts, including state-based crash analyses and local road safety initiatives.
“By fostering collaboration and evidence-based recommendations, such an agency would strengthen Australia’s capacity to achieve its National Road Safety Strategy targets and, ultimately, save lives.
“ACRS calls on all levels of government, industry stakeholders, and the broader community to support this critical initiative. The time for decisive action is now.”
In its election campaign initiatives, the Australian Trucking Association (ATA) also called on the next Australian Government to resource the safety experts at the ATSB to investigate serious crashes involving trucks.
“The ATSB is Australia’s independent transport safety investigator,” said ATA chair Mark Parry.
“It investigates aviation, commercial shipping and rail crashes and is recognised as a world leader. We don’t recognise the ATSB as the asset it is; we don’t take advantage of its expertise to investigate road crashes.”