Improve road safety? Target the right user!

Brussels - The International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the European Commission (EC), have just published a scientific study on “European Truck Accident Causation” (ETAC), identifying the main causes of accidents involving heavy goods vehicles in Europe. The ETAC study results show that human error, whether by the truck driver or another road user, is the main cause of 85.2% of accidents. However, among accidents linked to the human factor, 75% are caused by other road users versus 25% by the truck driver. Other factors such as technical failures, infrastructure conditions and weather conditions comparatively play a minor role, representing 5.3%, 5.1% and 4.4% respectively of the principal causes of accidents.

Hubert Linssen, IRU General Delegate to the EU, added, “While road transport, like every transport mode and activity, is subject to human error, the study underlined that the involvement of a heavy goods vehicle in an accident, in ¾ of the cases examined, was not the cause of the accident.”

The in-depth analysis regarding human error showed that non-adapted speed, failure to observe intersection rules and improper manoeuvring when changing lanes are the top main causes of accidents between a truck and another road user. Whereas common belief often considers fatigue as a major factor of accident, the ETAC study actually proves that fatigue was the main cause of an accident involving trucks in only 6% of all cases.

Mr Linssen explained, “In order to target those main causes and to reduce the overall number of people killed in traffic accidents involving trucks, it is crucial to improve driver training of other road user and upgrade driving school programmes to help new drivers to better understand truck manoeuvres and drive accordingly.”

The ETAC study is based on a scientific, widely accepted and internationally benchmarked methodology. Expert investigation teams from seven European countries* investigated in depth 624 accidents involving heavy goods vehicles. Typical configurations of accidents are at intersections (27%), in queues (20.6%), when changing lanes (19.5%), after overtaking (11.3%), and with single trucks (7%). All accidents involved at least one injured person, and were investigated on site. The study and the related database were co-financed by the European Commission and the IRU and will be available to the public on the IRU and the EC websites.

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Read the Executive summary

Press contact: Juliette.Ebele@iru.org, +41 22 918 27 07

* The study team comprised experts from the following national centres of expertise: CEESAR (France), CEMEK (Slovenia), DEKRA (Germany), the CIDAUT Foundation (Spain), IdB (Hungary), IDIADA (Spain), REGES (Spain), TNO (Netherlands) and the University of Pavia (Italy).