1 in 6 drivers attacked

Geneva – The results of an IRU Survey on Attacks on International Drivers, conducted jointly with the International Transport Forum (ITF) former European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), highlight the urgent need for immediate action by European Governments and all actors concerned in the road transport industry.

The survey, including some 1,300 face to face interviews and 700 replies to an Internet questionnaire from drivers and transport companies in more than 35 European, Balkan and Central-Asian countries over the period 2000-2005, shows that:

• 17% of all drivers interviewed have suffered an attack during the 5-year period investigated
• 30% of attacked drivers have been attacked more than once
• 21% of drivers were physically assaulted
• 60 % of the attacks targeted the vehicle and its load, whilst the remaining 40% related to the theft of the driver’s personal belongings
• 42% of the attacks took place in truck parking areas
• 66% of the reported attacks occurred between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am.
• 30% of the attacked drivers did not report the incident to the police
• Countries where the highest number of surveyed attacks occurred, per million tonnes of international traffic, are: Romania (5.03/Mt), Hungary (1.31/Mt), Poland (1.21/Mt) and the Russian Federation (0.97/Mt).

The direct cost of attacks investigated is estimated at €12 million. The total direct cost extrapolated to the whole international driver population in Europe is estimated at more than € 7 billion (not including indirect expenses or the value of lost business opportunities).

The study recommends that national authorities establish and maintain safe and secure truck stops and parking areas, as well as national police road freight crime units in each country. It calls for a real public-private partnership to tackle the problem, notably by improving information exchange, better reporting by drivers and companies concerned, swift follow-up by police and other authorities, increased company-internal security measures as well as enhanced and more specific driver training on the dangers of criminal activities in road transport.

The road transport industry has taken measures to address the problem by issuing the regularly updated, IRU-ECMT Truck Parking Areas publication, which is available to the public. The 2007 version gathers data from some 2000 parking areas in 41 European countries. It has also adopted the IRU Road Transport Security Guidelines highlighting safety recommendations for drivers, transport operators and their customers, dangerous goods transport specialists as well as road transport companies cooperating with customs administrations in their operations.

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