The Truck Industry Council CEO, Tony McMullan has again called for a reduction of the age of Australia’s truck fleet with the average age of the fleet now knocking on 15 years and according to TIC jeopardising road safety, the environment and people’s health.
McMullan pointed out that Australia now has one of the oldest truck fleets the Western world and it will take continued record sales to reverse the ageing trend.
“The current record sales could not come at a better time, with the average age of trucks cracking the 15 year mark in 2021 and with Australia having one of the oldest truck fleets in the Western world, we need record, or near record sales to reverse this fleet aging trend,” McMullan said.
“An old truck fleet is not good for road safety, nor noxious and greenhouse emissions, or for operator productivity,” he added.
“So why do I mention this, when many might expect celebrations are pending for what should be a new annual sales record when results are in early next month?” he said.
“The answer is simple, the Australian road toll is too high and heavy vehicles are over represented in those crashes and this is partly to do with the fact that the older trucks in our nation’s truck fleet do not feature the advanced safety features found in newer trucks,” the TIC CEO said.
“Reducing the national truck fleet age will bring benefits for all road users and reducing the fleet’s age starts with replacing the oldest trucks with newer, safer, greener and more productive ones.” McMullan concluded.
