25 September 2001

Number of trucking safety inquiries staggering - Greens

Green MP Sue Kedgley today said she was alarmed to learn that there are currently 17 trucking companies under investigation by the LTSA on safety grounds, including one company that has been under investigation for two years.

In response to a written question from Ms Kedgley (attached) Transport Minister Mark Gosche confirmed the LTSA is investigating 17 trucking companies due to safety concerns and that nine of these companies have been under investigation for six months or longer.

"I am really alarmed not only at the large number of trucking companies under safety investigations, but that these companies continue to operate while investigations run for up to two years," said Ms Kedgley.

"There can be no excuse for investigations of up to two years in length.

"If trucking companies are breaching safety regulations and therefore posing a risk to the safety of other road users they should be put out of service immediately until the problems are fixed," she said.

"Given the fact that trucks were involved in more than 20 per cent of all road fatalities last year the public have every right to be concerned about the safety of the trucks on our roads."

Ms Kedgley said the LTSA needed to do much more - including speeding up its inquiries - to ensure trucks, and the people who shared the roads with them, are safe.

"Rather than considering the current proposal to make trucks bigger and heavier than they already are, the Government and the LTSA should be addressing the serious safety issues surrounding trucks as a matter of urgency.

"I am appalled at the latest figures on the number and length of inquiries into the safety of trucking companies," she said.

"We need to introduce much more serious consequences for operators who fail to keep their trucks safe and we need to ensure that the LTSA conducts their safety inquiries thoroughly and much more quickly than they currently are," she said.

ENDS

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