Safety Bulletins

Truck Rollovers. What's Up!

Logging trucks rolling down our rural roads and terrifying our residents

This comment was heard on a recent radio program (Oct. 2018) and was about the current situation in Northland, however, the comments reflect a growing sentiment for logging transport in every region. As John Bain, chairman of the Northland region's transport committee has said: The crashes involving logging trucks since December is a very poor statistic and the trucking industry should be taking note of that. NZ Herald 30 Aug.

What's up at PF Olsen?

An analysis of PF Olsen data shows that incidents are not just occurring in Northland, rather across New Zealand in no discernible pattern. And, the number of events that have occurred year to date 2018 are both staggering and worrying!

Our data shows that we have sustained 11 rollovers and 16 further loss of control events e.g. where a truck has slid off a road or into a bank, nearly, but not rolling over!

Contributing Factors?

Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley makes a valid comment when he says Northland in particular has challenging roads but the basic requirement for drivers to drive according to road conditions and factors such as fatigue and speed are the same as with other drivers. We support these points and encourage full focus on them!

View this story in Safety Bulletin 115