NewsBite

Road safety

November

MinRes investigates truck crash on Onslow haul road

Another truck has crashed on the road connecting MinRes’ new Onslow iron ore hub, which is critical source of income for the highly indebted miner.

  • Peter Ker and Mark Wembridge

September

Brisbane’s Clem Jones tunnel goes under the city centre

PFAS foam leaks on Transurban’s Brisbane toll road rankle council

Transurban’s maintenance practices are being reviewed by Brisbane’s city council after fire-fighting foam spilled from a tank into a pump station in the company’s Clem Jones Tunnel.

  • Jenny Wiggins

August

Transurban operates the Legacy Way tunnel under a concession agreement with the Brisbane City Council

Transurban’s Brisbane toll road operations scrutinised by council

The company has been forced to hand over toll road operational manuals to the Brisbane City Council after the government authority demanded information on responses to traffic accidents.

  • Jenny Wiggins

May

A former Brisbane-based Transurban employee has alleged in court that he was dismissed after blowing the whistle on coercion, manipulation of company records and raising safety issues on toll roads.

Transurban network operator claims he was fired for whistle-blowing

The former employee has alleged in court that he was dismissed after blowing the whistle on coercion, manipulation of company records and raising safety issues on toll roads.

  • Jenny Wiggins

February

NSW takes lead in sharing secret road crash data

The state is set to take the lead in a national scheme to share secret crash accident data that supporters say will reduce road funding pork barrelling as deaths rise.

  • Jacob Greber, Simon Evans and Gus McCubbing
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States could be pressured to give up road safety data.

States to be forced to give up secret road crash data

Amid growing alarm over the rising road toll, pressure from Senator David Pocock is set to link $50 billion in federal road funding to state crash data transparency.

  • Jacob Greber

January

Tesla vehicles line a parking lot at the company’s Fremont, California, factory...

Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective

Tens of thousands of customers told Tesla about a host of part failures. It blamed vehicle ‘abuse’, but documents show it had tracked chronic ‘flaws’ for years.

  • Hyunjoo Jin, Kevin Krolicki, Marie Mannes and Steve Stecklow

December 2023

Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving function is under review by US regulators.

Tesla recalls nearly all its US cars over Autopilot crash risk

The US regulator says the self-driving function on the electric cars “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse” and could increase the risk of a crash.

  • Updated
  • David Shepardson

October 2023

No matter who collects EV revenue, we have to charge smartly

EVs are clean, cheap to run, and could encourage more driving. That will be a test for state governments, which can no longer set road user charges.

  • Marion Terrill

September 2021

The National Party sees talk of electric vehicles as “city-centric” and unhelpful in the Upper Hunter byelection.

Don’t give electric cars a free ride on road to net zero emissions

State governments should impose per-kilometre road user charges on greener vehicles that still cause harms such as accidents and congestion, and hog public space.

  • Marion Terrill

April 2021

A crane is used to lift a vehicle following a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods in the Rancho Palos Verdes suburb of Los Angeles.

Tiger Woods was speeding at 145km/h before crashing SUV, sheriff says

The golf superstar was driving at twice the posted speed limit on a downhill stretch of road when he lost control of the vehicle.

  • Updated
  • Stefanie Dazio

July 2020

The Model 1 by Civilized Cycles has a passenger seat.

Could this 'car e-bike' free up congested cities?

For cyclists sick of dealing with inclement weather, the pedal car is making a comeback, now with modern battery assistance.

  • Tony Davis

May 2020

Victoria's road toll continues to rise

Net loss of life from pandemic could be 40. Here's why

Sixty fewer people have died in vehicle crashes this year, which might mean the overall loss of life from the novel coronavirus is less than half the official tally.

  • Aaron Patrick

March 2020

The likelihood of a driver yielding drops 3 per cent for every $US1000 ($1540) increase in the value of the vehicle.

Drivers of expensive cars have a problem with pedestrians

Rising pedestrian fatalities have sparked a study into driver behaviour. It found the rich yield less, but favour women and white people.

  • Joel Shannon

January 2020

A McDonald's customer in the US claims his tea had extra herbs in it.

Drug driving deaths double where weed has been made legal

There is still no proper standard for assessing marijuana impairment, nor a consistent method for testing.

  • Fredrick Kunkle
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November 2019

The heirs' father Herbert Quandt helped rescue BMW in the late 1950s

BMW urgently recalls E46 3 Series over airbags

Some 12,000 BMW vehicles are being urgently recalled after transport safety authorities identified another Takata airbag.

May 2019

There's never a dull moment in road maintenance.

The Riverside Company pounds pavement, mulls Hiway bolt-on deal

The Riverside Co. aims to beef up road maintenance and rehabilitation services company Hiway with an acquisition.

  • Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/road-safety-61b