This study was carried out to benchmark the safety performance of Australia's road transport industry against the safety performance of similar industries in a range of OECD countries. Comparisons were made of truck fatalities in Australia, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Sweden. Fatality rates were used because of the range of comparable data. Injury data were not used because injury reporting criteria and completeness of reporting vary within Australia and in other countries. The study found that Australia's heavy vehicle fatality rate per kilometre travelled is 47 percent higher than the USA, 39 percent higher than the UK, comparable to Germany and Canada, 20 percent lower than Sweden, 45 percent lower than France, and 55 percent lower than New Zealand. The higher fatality rates on Australian roads compared to Great Britain and the United States may be largely explained by the lower proportion of truck travel on divided and limited access roads in Australia, and possibly truck speed limits. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E209619. This paper may also be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.rsconference.com/index.html
Abstract