According to the latest report from the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport there were 225 fatalities from 200 heavy vehicle accidents on Australian Roads for the 2011 – 2012 financial year. Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport, Catherine King, said that even though the number of accidents and fatalities was lower by 20 per cent than 5 years previously any loss of life is unacceptable. She said that the figures behind the BITRE’s recently released Fatal heavy vehicle crashes Australia quarterly bulletin for April-June 2012 demonstrates that the fatalities in 2012 are reduced from previous years. Ms King said that this report that accidents that involved articulated and rigid trucks is less by 13 per cent and that fatalities from articulated truck accidents are down by 18 per cent with fatalities from heavy bus accidents reduced by 4.2 per cent from the previous financial year. She said that the Federal Government desires for this decrease to continue and that a range of measures will be implemented to keep reducing the number of heavy vehicle accidents. Ms King said that the government has created the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal, investing in Australian roads through the National Building Program and the Heavy Vehicle Safety Productivity Program and implementing the National Road Safety Strategy. The major initiatives include:

• Streamlined laws and regulations that preside over heavy vehicles through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator.
• Addressing the economic factors that may promote unsafe practices and behaviour by drivers through the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal.
• $36 billion invested on road and rail infrastructures from 2008 – 2014.
• $50 million invested in the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program to improve heavy vehicle safety from 2012 to 2014.