Between February 11 and 21, there were three truck rollovers and one truck fire — three of them on the Hume Highway near Tarcutta and Tumblong.

One involved the death of 23 steers.

Richard Olsen, state secretary of NSW Transport Workers’ Union, said that while he was not able to comment about the causes of those incidents, the industry is experiencing “fundamental issues” that may contribute to incidents of consecutive truck crashes.

"We’ve seen that occurred in prior years where the causes are attributed to pressures on drivers to continue on when it’s unsafe to do so,” Mr Olsen said.

“Various issues, including cost savings, put pressure on drivers, which then flow on to their fatigue levels.”

The successive incidents come despite an overall downward trend in NSW truck crashes in recent times.

The number of heavy truck crashes in January to June 2018 were higher than the the three-year average leading up to 2018, the latest data by NSW Transport shows.

However, the latter half of 2018 was lower.

Further, the 12 months to February 17 this year shows 47 fatal heavy truck crashes, which is 17 fewer than the previous period.

However, Mr Olsen said further work around regulations were needed to continue to stem the problem.

“We need to fix our heavy-vehicle legislation so that not only drivers survive, many other road users would as well,” he said.

“We keep saying to drivers to conform to what we think is right because of some academic papers.

“But we say individual drivers should be given chance to say what is best for them.”

Truck driver Reggie Sutton, based at The Rock, said that while he believed the recent spate of incidents was “just bad luck in one spot”, he agreed with the union in calling for reforms to better manage work pressures.

“The biggest problem from my perspective is that log books and other regulations might not suit every driver,” he said.

Mr Sutton, who was the Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association inaugural young driver of the year in 2015, urged drivers to continue to prioritise safety above everything else.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to know your limits,” he said.

In 2018, NSW Minister for Roads and Maritime Melinda Pavey said began advocacy for a national safety package for heavy vehicles.

The government’s Road Safety Plan 2021 also includes various measures to improve safety around heavy vehicles.

These include a new police-enforcement strategy to ensure safe vehicle movements and working with the federal government to adopt new technologies into vehicle standards.

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