ACCIDENTS OF COMMERCIAL VEHICLES IN EUROPE

This paper analyses the accidents of more than one thousand commercial vehicles in Europe. Important findings of the analysis are: (1) The highest accident rate is shown by 33-37-year-old drivers; (2) The accident rate is high within one or two years of driving practice. This is followed by a significant drop in the accident rate between two and five years of driving practice. Drivers with five to 10 years of practice participate in almost twice as many accidents as the former group; (3) Most truck accidents take place in the first seven hours of the driving time; and (4) the single-vehicle commercial accidents caused by fatigue may not be found exclusively in the range of long driving periods. Cars are assumed to be the most frequent accident counterparts of commercal vehicles, according to European accident statistics. The paper also assumes that the large volume road vehicle share in accident statistics is underpresented. The introduction of this vehicle type requires careful judgement, the control of brake compatibility, and a through preliminary training of drivers. The paper presents the spot maps of both the Hungarian and European road truck accidents. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 867839.