Safety remains a challenge for trucking industry

In a speech to the National Press Club this week, ATA chief executive Stuart St Clair said there had been a "remarkable improvement" in safety measures given that current truck drivers clock up more kilometres than drivers of 20 years ago.

Fatal crashes involving articulated trucks fell to 130 in 2008, from 260 in 1988, while the number of deaths more than halved to 150 in 2008 from 320 two decades earlier, Mr St Clair said, citing a government report.

"Of course, even one fatal crash is too many - the industry's objective must be to make sure all our drivers, as well as every other road user, gets home safely ," Mr St Clair said.

"To do this, we need to look at the latest evidence about what really causes truck crashes."

The main causes of crashes included lack of awareness, inadequate safety and technology systems and a lack of rest stops for truck drivers, Mr St Clair said.

"That's why the ATA believes we will only see further, substantial falls in the number of truck crashes if governments, the industry and our customers fully take up the safe systems approach to road safety."

Governments and industry need to focus on safer roads, trucks, drivers and companies, he said.

Mr St Clair also called for better regulation within the industry.

While the ATA supported the Council of Australian Governments' backing of a single national truck regulator, Mr St Clair said unresolved issues remained.

"To deliver the greatest benefits, the national laws need to go beyond uniformity and reduce the regulatory burden on the industry as well," Mr St Clair said.

And while the ATA supported a rise in road user charges, it was not so keen on government plans to increase registration fees for heavy vehicles.

"It breaks one of the fundamental rules of tax reform, which is that taxes should be no more complicated than is absolutely necessary."