Work-related road safety in South Australia

Abstract

This report presents a broad investigation of work-related road safety in South Australia in three distinct parts. In the first part, a review of national and international literature on work-related road safety is conducted. The second part presents an analysis on the burden of work-related light vehicle crashes in South Australia for the years 2006 to 2010. Three separate methods of identifying work vehicles that were involved in South Australia crashes were utilised. Each of the methods identified a particular set of work vehicles which were then analysed separately. Despite this, the results from each method were reasonably consistent. Compared to non-work vehicles, the crash involved work vehicles were more likely to be newer, travel during daytime hours on weekdays, and be driven by males of working age. A large proportion of the work vehicles were found to consist of commercial-type vehicles such as utilities, vans, and station wagons, which are less likely to be fitted with safety features that are common on other light vehicles. Another finding was that work vehicles that crashed in the greater Adelaide metropolitan area between 6am and 7pm on a weekday while being driven by a person younger than 65, had a higher crash risk than non-work vehicles. No definitive reason for the increased crash risk could be identified. In the third part of the report, an analysis of the crash and injury experience of a large government light vehicle fleet in South Australia is presented. Information on the safety features of each vehicle that entered the government fleet between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2010 were obtained, along with details on crash involvement and total travel distance. Within the government fleet, the uptake of safety features over time was similar to that of the general vehicle fleet and even greater for some features such as electronic stability control and traction control. Analysis of the crash data (while controlling for total travel distance) revealed that the crash rate of the government fleet had reduced over time. With respect to the different safety features installed on each vehicle, it was found that those vehicles that were equipped with ESC or had a 5-star ANCAP safety rating had a statistically significantly lower crash rate compared to those that were not.