This article was taken from Big Rigs: Educational truck to hit WA roads from November
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Western Australia is launching its own version of the Australian Trucking Association’s SafeT360 educational truck later this year.
With the help of $560,000 from the NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative and another $120,000 from the WA Road Safety Commission, Transafe WA will introduce INSTRUCKTA – a truck and customised semi-trailer which expands into a cutting-edge education space.
Much like the SafeT360 Volvo in the east, INSTRUCKTA will travel to schools and community events around the state from November, engaging the general public with learning opportunities that utilise augmented and virtual reality.
Primary school age children will learn about truck drivers, what they do, and the size of trucks relative to them, said Transafe WA.
“Our programming includes fun interactive, consequence driven games. We then build on these programs for secondary school age children and the community adding experiences that explore truck blind spots, overtaking and road courtesy,” explained Transafe WA executive officer Ana Stachewicz.
“We’re taking road safety up a level in WA, and using the awesome technology available to us to put the general road user in the truck driver’s seat and generate behavioural change on our roads.”
Stachewicz said there is a critical need to educate current and future road users how to share the road safely with trucks in WA – something not currently being met in the state’s education system or road safety strategy priorities.
She said this issue is not confined to WA’s regional roads. Between 2015 and 2019, half of the people killed or seriously injured in crashes involving at least one heavy vehicle were in the metropolitan area.
Cam Dumesny, CEO Western Roads Federation, says INSTRUCKTA is an exciting and necessary initiative in Western Australia, which is going to fill an enormous gap in road safety education.
“The state government of Western Australia has more than $2.39 billion committed to creating and upgrading roads around the state, to make our infrastructure safe for everyone,” said Dumesny.
“But this is only part of the solution. It’s our shared responsibility as the WA community – the trucking industry, all the industries that rely on us, the not for profit sector, government and every Western Australian on the road – to learn how to safely and confidently share the roads with heavy vehicles.”
Transafe WA said it is now seeking corporate safety partners and a long-term commitment from the WA State Government to ensure the future of INSTRUCKTA.
It is also still shopping for a prime mover safety partner.