The National Transport Insurance (NTI) has highlighted a sharp increase in engine and cab fires according to the latest Major Accident Investigation Report The National Truck Accident Research Centre (NTARC) funded by the National Transport Insurance investigated 461 major crashes during 2011 and found that they resulted in a combined cost of $54.7 million in claims, with each claim being over $50,000. The report found that crash rates have improved as of late by around 42.7 per cent but vehicle maintenance has become a major concern. The report found that Western Australia’s Great Northern Highway continued to experience an increase in major truck crash frequency while the Hume Highway is the best performing highway with the lowest frequency of major accidents, interesting statistics for truckies. It is also interesting to note another finding by the report, fatal multi-vehicle incidents in 2011 involving NTI-covered trucks, the percentage where the truck driver was found to be at fault was zero whereas in 2009 it was 18 per cent. According to the report, other good news is that speed related crashes also fell dramatically from 31.8 per cent in 2009, to 25.4 per cent. Although this number is still high, even a slight improvement is encouraging. But the news was not all good, a major concern highlighted by the report is the high number of serious accidents attributed to non-impact fires, such as engine and cabin fires which is an indication of how vehicle’s are being neglected and operators are not servicing and repairing vehicles adequately and regularly. As drivers are the ones risking their lives in the vehicles they should ensure that they conduct the necessary checks each day before they embark on a trip and also mention any malfunctions or concerns to the operators so that they can have them fixed. According to the report a major issue in improving Oz road safety is making sure vehicles are safe by maintaining them regularly. Operators or truckies should check that metal parts cannot short-out batteries and ensure that suitable ventilation of batteries occurs in order to avoid fires and explosions. It is also advisable that regular battery inspection is conducted. Read about the report below with an excerpt from a post at https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1303/promising-figures-in-latest-nti-crash-stats:   “In order to improve safety on our roads, we must first ensure the vehicles on our roads are safe.” Key statistics to come out of the report for NTI were: Inappropriate speed for the conditions was found to be the leading cause of serious accidents at 25.4 percent. This is down from 31.8 percent in the previous report 12.1 percent of serious accidents were attributed to non-impact fires, with over 60 percent of these losses originating from engine and cabin fires. This is a marked increase from previous studies The number of major losses has escalated in both Queensland and Western Australia 22.4 percent of serious truck crashes occurred on Australia’s National Highway 1. Queensland’s Bruce Highway was the worst with proportionally more incidents than any other major road https://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/1303/promising-figures-in-latest-nti-crash-stats