The Government will establish a new national road safety system to tackle speed, fatigue and dangerous work practices in the trucking industry.
A new Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal will have the ability to set pay or pay-related conditions to ensure safe driving practices.
The aim of the tribunal is to ensure that truck drivers are paid reasonably for the work they do, getting rid of the economic incentive for drivers to take unacceptable risks on roads.
Around 250 people are killed and more than 1,000 people suffer serious injuries on roads each year in incidents involving trucks, and most of those deaths involve other vehicles in a collision with trucks.
The Government introduced legislation last week to establish a national Road Safety Remuneration System comprising a Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and a separate education and compliance framework.
The Tribunal will begin work on 1 July, 2012 and will include members from Fair Work Australia along with independent work, health and safety experts.
Where the tribunal determines that a sector of the industry has poor safety outcomes as a result of low remuneration, the tribunal will be able to make a Road Safety Remuneration Order to improve the on-road safety outcomes for drivers operating in that sector.
“The Government has been working on this legislation for some time we released the Safe Rates, Safe Roads Directions Paper last year for public submissions and since the Safe Rates Advisory Group was established 12 months ago, industry has been consulted every step of the way,” said Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.
Research by the National Transport Commission shows low rates of pay can lead to risky work practices by drivers to make ends meet, and Minister Albanese said these include speeding, long hours and using illicit substances.
The legislation comes on the back of recent research which found that around 40 per cent of truck drivers report being pressured into breaking fatigue regulations, while one quarter are forced to drive at excessive speeds in order to meet deadlines.
Conducted by Transport Workers’ Union, the study also found that 56 per cent of owner-drivers did forego vehicle maintenance because of economic pressure, 27 per cent of drivers felt they had to drive too fast, and nearly 40 per cent feel pressured to drive longer than legally allowed as a result of client pressure.
The truck driving sector continues to have the highest incidence of fatal injuries compared to all other industries with 25 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2008-09, 10 times the average for all industries.
In 2010, the total cost of heavy vehicle related accidents involving fatalities and serious injuries was $2.7 billion.