The extent of the problem can be assessed by considering
official accident statistics, the cost of accidents, insurance
claims and insurance premiums. Statistics on accidents
are recorded by the Department of Transport and
reported in Road Accidents Great Britain[3,4]. Table I
shows road accidents in Great Britain for 1989. It
compares large goods vehicles (LGVs) with small goods
vehicles (SGVs) and against all vehicles. It shows that, for
1989, although SGVs and other vehicles had more
accidents, LGVs (formerly called heavy goods vehicles)
were involved in a higher proportion of fatal accidents,
with 5.9 per cent of LGV accidents resulting in a fatality
compared with an average of 2.3 per cent for SGVs and
1.9 per cent for all vehicles. This is important, as fatal
accidents have much higher costs than other types.