The recent cycling death of a celebrated rural doctor has highlighted the dangers of blind spots on trucks and prompted renewed calls for road safety reforms.
Seventy-three-year-old Mark Henschke was killed after he was hit by a garbage truck while cycling in Coffs Harbour last November.
His brother, former ABC journalist Ian Henschke, says it's a tragedy that should never have happened.
"I just believe that this was an avoidable incident, a preventable incident, and we need to change the law in Australia," he told ABC's 7.30.
"Mark was run over by a truck that has a blind spot – we have the technology to get rid of blind spots on trucks."
Ian Henschke cites a 2015 Queensland coronial inquest into the cycling death of Danish student Rebekka Meyer in Brisbane, in which the coroner recommended the blind spot problem be addressed.
"Conventional shaped heavy vehicles should be prohibited unless they are fitted with appropriate technologies to warn the driver of any obstacles or other road users within the forward blind spot of the truck," Coroner Chris Clements found.
Ian Henschke said governments have been too slow to act.
"It's been nearly a decade since that's been recommended; nothing much has been done," he said.
"I find it extraordinary that when a coroner says they should do something, that's there no legal obligation for people to act on the coroner's findings."
His sentiments are echoed by John Lister, whose wife and theatre nurse Carolyn was fatally hit from behind by a truck while she was cycling to work in Brisbane in 2020.
"Carolyn basically stood absolutely no chance of being seen by the driver," he told 7.30.
"She would have to have been approximately a few metres in front of the truck for the driver to have any visibility at all."
"All the regulators and transport department had effectively just ignored the coroner's findings that would have avoided an accident that essentially occurred to Carolyn."
The office of the Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey declined to comment and referred 7.30 to the federal government.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the department had "considered options to require the fitment of blind spot information systems and additional mirrors or cameras to heavy vehicles that are built in accordance with a potential increased width allowance."
"These, and other safety technologies were publicly consulted on in a discussion paper released in April 2021," the spokeswoman said.
"Road safety technologies are mandated through the national road vehicle standards, determined under the Road Vehicle Standards Act 2018. Future changes to the standards will be considered by the Minister after considering stakeholder input following the public consultation."
The Australian Trucking Association says it is in favour of mandatory blind spot sensors for new modern trucks over 2.6 metres.
Transport safety researcher Associate Professor David Logan from Monash University's Accident Research Centre says mandating blind spot sensors is probably not as easy as it seems.
"It depends on the length of the truck; the sensors need to be positioned in such a way that you need to see all the sides of the truck," he said.
"I'm sure there are some solutions that will work, I guess it's just a case of having the resources to be able to look into the ones that are most effective for quite a diverse array of vehicles that operate on public roads.
"I think it's an emerging issue that we need to look at … we can't encourage cycling and walking without providing a safe environment for people to do so in."
'This has to be fixed'
Dan Kneipp from the Amy Gillett Foundation says 10 of the 35 cyclists killed on Australian roads in 2022 were in an accident that involved a truck.
"That's nearly a third of the cyclists' deaths … and trucks make up less than 3 per cent of road vehicles, so to say they're extremely over-represented is an understatement."
The European Union is moving to mandate blind spot information systems to identify approaching cyclists and pedestrians, and road safety advocates say Australia should follow suit.
"This has to be fixed because someone else will be killed in the next month or six months, and some other family will lose a loved one," says Ian Henschke.
"What is the cost of not putting this on to trucks, what is the cost for the driver who has to deal with that for the rest of their life? What is the cost for the families?"
John Lister says the personal cost for him is profound.
He's presently hiking through New Zealand with his wife's ashes, coming to terms with the tragedy, and wanting to see some progress on truck safety.
"I'm naively optimistic from what I've been led to believe that the federal government is now working with the national regulator to implement those measures, that will involve sensors, mirrors and driver training."
"It's a very slow process to roll out these measures, but to me, it's just common sense."
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