The Transport Agency and RTF supported by the Police and the Accident Compensation Corporation will bring a series of seminars to drivers across the country to help them understand why rollovers occur and how to prevent them.
New Zealand has a poor record of truck rollover, with a truck rolling over on average every two to three days, twice the rollover rate on a per capita basis of comparable countries.
“Knowing how to prevent truck rollover is an important part of being a professional driver,” says Jeff Fleury, a vehicle specialist with the Transport Agency who was invited to deliver the seminars.
“At the end of the day we want to see every driver make it home to their family safely,” Jeff says.
In addition to the tragedy of death and serious injury from truck rollover the vehicle damage, product loss and supply chain disruption costs the freight industry and the economy millions of dollars each year.
RTF Chief Executive Ken Shirley says there has been industry demand for the seminars, which will draw on the experience of the successful programme run by VicRoads in Australia.
“This will build on a series of seminars that we ran last year, and were well received by the industry,” Ken says.
Jeff says the seminars will look at vehicle stability and how that is affected by the size and type of load and other factors such as the nature of the road and weather conditions.
The first seminar will be held in Christchurch, with 4 December the likely date, and will use feedback from the industry to help shape the main seminar series, which will be held across the country in early 2016.
More information on how to prevent truck rollover is available on the Transport Agency’s website.