Share road safety responsibility: NHVR plea after jump in fatal heavy vehicle crashes on Tasmanian rural roads

The call comes during Rural Road Safety month, as the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) shared data showing the number of fatal heavy vehicle crashes on Tasmanian rural roads have risen.

In FY26, four fatal heavy vehicle crashes on rural roads in Tasmania claimed four lives, up from one crash and one fatality in FY25. The four incidents in FY26 were the only fatal heavy vehicle crashes that occurred in the state and resulted in the loss of four lives.

Nationally in FY26, 59 fatal heavy vehicles crashes occurred on rural roads resulting in 63 deaths, up from 52 crashes and 59 fatalities in FY25.    

NHVR Chief Operations Officer Paul Salvati said the data sets from the Australian Road Deaths Database showed a worrying upward trend.

“Between FY 25 and FY26 we have been a significant jump in fatal heavy vehicle crashes taking place on Tasmania’s rural roads, jumping from one to four with fatalities also rising with four people losing their lives,” Mr Salvati said

“The data reveals that all heavy vehicle crashes that occurred in Tasmania happened on rural roads - none were recorded in metro area of the state. While this finding is unique to Tasmania it does align with the fact that 80% of the state’s road network is classified as rural.

“In Tasmania light vehicles using rural roads will share space with heavy vehicles most commonly laden with agricultural produce including timber and livestock. Like all trucks transporting freight, these vehicles need much longer distances to stop safely and have multiple blind spots which makes overtaking more dangerous.”

Rural Road Safety Month is an initiative of the Australian Road Safety Foundation and runs throughout August.

The percentage of rural fatal heavy vehicle crashes varies across jurisdictions regulated by the NHVR, but Tasmania had the worst record with all fatal heavy vehicle crashes in FY26 occurring in rural areas.

Queensland had the next highest rate at 43%, followed by South Australia and New South Wales at 40% and 36.5% respectively. Victoria has a significantly lower rate over the period of rural fatal heavy vehicle crashes at just 17.5%.*

Mr Salvati said that while Tasmania seemed to have lower crash metrics, the numbers represented road users who did not make it home safely.

“If you look at states like Tasmania it might seem that the number of fatal heavy vehicle crashes across a 12-month period is relatively low but it’s important to remember that each of these crashes resulted in the loss of life,” Mr Salvati said.

“Tasmania’s road network is unique in that the majority of it services regional and rural areas. The fact that all fatal heavy vehicle crashes in Tasmania occurred on rural roads shows road users in these areas need to be vigilant to reduce both the number of incidents and the resulting loss of life.”

Nationally, the FY26 data showed most fatal heavy vehicle crashes in rural areas occurred in 100-110m km speed zones, which are more prevalent outside of major cities.

The NHVR runs ongoing safety campaigns to educate experienced and newer drivers on how to drive safely around trucks in all settings.

In FY26 financial year the NHVR ran more than 60 operations across its jurisdiction to educate and inform drivers operating in rural areas of their responsibilities under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).

The regulator’s Safety and Compliance teams also work with agencies such as state police to run holistic road safety and compliance operations in the regions. 

You can find more information about the Australian Road Safety Foundation’s Rural Road Safety Month. 

*Note: The heavy vehicle fatal crashes and fatality data quoted was obtained from the Australian Road Deaths Database (ARDD). The ARDD uses the National Remoteness Areas 2021 categories to establish defined areas. Rural statistics were derived from the Outer Regional Australia, Remote Australia and Very Remote Australia areas. This data relates to HVNL states only.