Light commercial road deaths up 12.1% as ANCAP pushes beyond passenger cars

Road deaths involving light commercial vehicles rose an average 12.1% over the period covered by the Federal Government’s mid-term review of the National Road Safety Strategy, against a 0.3% increase for passenger cars.

Motorcycle-related fatalities rose 28.3% and those involving heavy vehicles 7.2%, according to figures ANCAP has drawn from the review.

The split puts the safety problem outside the vehicle category that has absorbed most of the testing and regulatory attention. Light commercials accounted for 17.9% of new vehicle sales in August and utes lead the used market, with the Ford Ranger the best-selling one to five year old vehicle in seven of the eight states and territories.

“These findings show why Australia’s focus on safer vehicles must continue to broaden beyond passenger cars to include commercial vans, light and heavy trucks and motorcycles,” ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg says.

“Regulation is not the only policy lever available to improve vehicle safety. ANCAP’s vehicle assessment programs can incentivise safety technology well in advance of regulation.”

The review credits improvements in the safety performance of the light vehicle fleet, which ANCAP attributes in part to its own crash protection and crash avoidance assessments.

Hoorweg is also pressing on data, an issue raised from a different direction by the Australian Automobile Association this week. She wants crash and vehicle information already collected across the states brought together and made accessible nationally, including detail on the specific crash scenario.

“This would provide a clearer picture of real-world vehicle performance, emerging risks and where policy, investment and focussed safety interventions can deliver the greatest benefit,” she says.

The AAA reported on Tuesday that 1,313 people died on Australian roads in the year to 31 August, the first fall against the previous corresponding period in 39 months but still 19.7% above January 2021, when the strategy was adopted with the aim of halving the toll by 2030. Of the strategy’s 23 performance indicators, the association says only four can be tracked beyond 2024.

ANCAP closes with a funding argument. Hoorweg says continued Australian Government support for the organisation is essential to maintaining independent testing capability through the remainder of the strategy’s term and beyond.

ANCAP introduced its Stages of Safety assessment regime this year, with the BMW iX3 the first vehicle rated under it in July.