A spate of recent fatal crashes involving trucks on Australian roads, has put those in the industry on edge. Between January and April this year, 55 people were killed in accidents involving heavy vehicles. While there have been improvements in road safety for heavy vehicles, statistics show the majority of multi-vehicle crashes involving trucks are caused by other drivers.
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00:00Every time Leah Hughes says goodbye to her truck driver husband before work she fears it could be the last time.
00:10You always stop, pause, really take that time and at the back of your mind he might not come home.
00:16When there's news of a truck crash Leah tries to stay calm and find out as much information as she can.
00:23It's also pretty bad when a picture of the truck goes up before the relatives are even told which frequently happens now in this, everybody's videoing everything.
00:32Drivers say there are multiple factors that contribute to safety.
00:39I think about the weight of the truck I'm in, the weight of the load I'm carrying and think that's a rolling death trap really.
00:50But it's the behaviour of other road users that poses the greatest risk.
00:55When you're driving you think about oncoming traffic and you look at them to say if something happened where's my escape route.
01:06Despite the recent spate of truck crashes trucking organisations say the industry is much safer than it was.
01:15We do have accidents, we don't want any.
01:19But over the last 25 years the number of fatal truck crashes has absolutely plummeted despite a big increase in the amount of freight on the road.
01:28Fatal crashes involving articulated trucks are slowly declining.
01:33But the National Road Safety Strategy shows that fatalities in crashes involving heavy rigid trucks and buses have not reduced in the past decade.
01:42And the strategy suggests that 80% of fatal multiple vehicle crashes involving heavy trucks are not the fault of the truck driver.