Foreign freight haulage trucks often in crashes
Date: 19 November 2007
Foreign freight haulage trucks are far more likely to be involved in accidents than their British counterparts, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) reports.
That's according to the Association of British Drivers (ABI), which found that foreign drivers are three times more likely per mile to have a crash than British drivers. The group claims that the government should do more to protect other drivers.
ABI figures published in the Times newspaper show that the number of accidents involving Polish logistics drivers has grown hugely from 361 in 2001 to 3,132 last year. Crashes involving Lithuanian drivers have increased from one in 2001 to 745 in 2006.
Freight haulage vehicle testing in the UK is more rigorous than in any other European Union country except Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovakia. The study adds that all EU states should recognise penalties incurred by freight haulage drivers in other countries.
As well as this, there ought to be a law requiring HGVs to have a blind spot mirror, to cut down on the number of sideswiping incidents, when a logistics truck - with or without a load - pulls out on a motorway and hits a car.
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