An In-depth Study of Work-related Road Traffic Accidents

Road traffic accidents while at work are the single largest cause of occupational fatality in the United Kingdom.

Work-related road accidents do not comprise a homogeneous group, but take many forms, encompassing the use of varying types of vehicle used for diverse purposes and including special sub-groups such as those working in, on, or near the highway.

A sample of 2,111 accident cases was considered, including 1,009 in detail, from Midland police forces, involving drivers/workers of all ages and covering the years 1996–2004 inclusive.

Each case was summarised on a database including the main objective features (such as time and place) and a summary narrative, a sketch plan and a list of explanatory factors. The summary narrative, in particular, included judgements by the researchers that emphasised the sequence of events leading up to the accident.

The main findings were as follows:

• There were six main classes of accident-involved vehicle, which covered 88% of the sample. These were company cars, vans/pickups, lorries – large goods vehicles (LGVs), buses – passenger carrying vehicles (PCVs), taxis/minicabs and emergency vehicles. Sub-groups in the remaining 12% of the sample included people driving miscellaneous vehicle types and those working in, on, or near the road.

• The drivers of company cars, vans/pickups and lorries (LGVs) all appeared to have a high ‘blameworthiness’ ratio in their accident involvement. Company car drivers showed excess speed as a causal factor, whereas van drivers showed more observational failures, and LGV drivers showed more fatigue and vehicle defects as factors.

• The drivers of buses (PCVs), taxis/minicabs and emergency vehicles showed a low ‘blameworthiness’ ratio in their accident involvement. Their problems seemed to be primarily with the other drivers/parties with whom they share the road. While they made a variety of mistakes or errors, they were more likely to become the victim of another party’s mistake or error.

• Workers on, in, or near the road seemed to come to grief through the behaviour of drivers who sometimes seemed to be aggressively asserting their right of way over pedestrians with little regard to their safety.