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EU study: Fatigue a main factor in just 6 percent of truck wrecks

A major study released recently by the European Union shows that only 6 percent of 624 truck wrecks were blamed on fatigued truck drivers.

The study was paid for by the European Commission and the International Road Transport Union, and looked at statistically representative truck crashes in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain.

The study found that human factors were a main cause in 85 percent of wrecks involving trucks, cars and pedestrians.

“However, out of the accidents linked to human error, only 25 percent are caused by the truck driver,” the study said. “Based on the 624 accidents in the database, fatigue was the main cause in only 6 percent of the accidents.”

When fatigue was cited as the main cause of a wreck, most of the wrecks occurred between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., and also between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. 90 percent of the wrecks blamed on fatigue occurred on highways or inter-urban roads, and only played a minor role in truck wrecks in cities, the study said.

To help decrease truck wrecks, the study’s authors recommended awareness campaigns on speeding and safe distances between vehicles, and revised driving school regulations to help car drivers understand truck maneuvers.

The study also recommended that governments increase enforcement, particularly regarding speeds, and that media “report objectively and based on facts and figures on who is causing the accident.”

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