Seatbelt wearing compliance for drivers of heavy vehicles is estimated to be around 50% which, in comparison to that of passenger car drivers (around 95%), is very low. Increasing wearing compliance is one of the key strategic objectives of the National Heavy Vehicle Safety Strategy. Anecdotally, evidence suggests that some seat and belt configurations are uncomfortable for heavy vehicle drivers, which contributes to the low wearing compliance rate. Therefore, it is possible that introducing a compulsory standard for more favourable configurations could increase wearing compliance, however, there is little evidence to support this at present. The purpose of this report is to investigate any realistic links between seat comfort and belt wearing. This is tested by canvassing the heavy vehicle market to establish what seat and belt configurations are contained in vehicles delivered (i.e. new vehicles) in the last year. It is assumed that these delivery statistics are typical and therefore provide a benchmark for determining what proportion of seat and belt configurations are available in the existing fleet. Conclusions could then be drawn that if there is a prevalence of a certain seat and belt configuration, and if this configuration could be demonstrated to be uncomfortable, then there may be benefit in introducing a regulatory standard in favour of other sorts of belts. During the development of this research, key stakeholders, including government enforcement agencies, the truck operating industry and truck manufacturers have been consulted. The results of a literature review demonstrate that there is not a lot of reliable information available on this issue. The report concludes that there are some commonly held assumptions relating to the comfort of certain seat and belt configurations which, when tested, do not measure up. These, linked with other misconceptions (including an apparently common perception that wearing seatbelts is dangerous) contribute to the low wearing compliance rate. The report concludes that there are a range of options to address better seatbelt design, which could be explored to remove one of the perceived barriers to seatbelt use, including amending existing Australian Design Rules relating to seatbelts to specify belt and seat configurations, making seatbelt reminder systems for heavy vehicles compulsory, making certain seat and belt configurations compulsory when retro-fitting or re-fitting seats in heavy vehicles and enhancing enforcement techniques. (Author/publisher)
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