Work continues to develop new and better approaches to managing road safety when trucks and vulnerable road users interact.
Recently Road Safety Victoria, part of the Department of Transport and Planning, released training packages for heavy vehicle truck drivers that focus on risks for bike riders and pedestrians around trucks.
Known as Toolbox Talks, these materials comply with the latest industry approach to safety training, equipping managers and team leaders with information and resources to conduct safety talks on vital topics such as blind spots and left turns, and issues specific to bike riding and to pedestrian travel.
Each package contains a generic overview of the discussion, topic background information and fact sheet, discussion sheet, participant attendance record sheet, participant self-assessment sheet, discuss discussion review sheet, poster, supporting PowerPoint slides and a video.
The suite of Toolbox Talks was developed by Road Safety Victoria in collaboration with the National Road Safety Partnership Program.
The materials can be accessed via links at this VicRoads website: https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/safety-and-road-rules/road-safety-programs/construction-trucks-and-community-safety
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The construction sector has been at the forefront of the evolution of safer vehicles and drivers because of the launch of major transport projects within the inner urban area, such as Metro Tunnel and the West Gate Tunnel, which have resulted in high volumes of trucks on roads and streets also thick with pedestrians and bike riders.
Since the early days of these projects Bicycle Network has worked with Road Safety Victoria, the Municipal Association of Victoria, Transurban and the TAC to develop and expand the program.
The Major Transport Infrastructure Authority has inserted clauses into government construction contracts in Victoria that mandate these safety principles, a practice now adopted in other states.
The next step is to get other local authorities and industry sectors to adopt a similar approach.
Bicycle Network's Swapping Seats campaigns help bike riders and pedestrians understand the visibility from a truck driver's seat and develop positive relationships between truck drivers and vulnerable road users.
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