Conclusions
Commercial vehicle accidents have major impacts on the
environment, on people and on company costs. If only a
fraction of commercial vehicle accidents could be avoided,
massive cost savings can be made, to say nothing of the
deaths, injuries and suffering that would be avoided.
Environmental damage could also be reduced.
While acknowledging that vehicle accidents tend to have
a combination of causes, this article has emphasized
human elements and vehicle management at the
company level. Commercial vehicle accidents and their
associated costs can be reduced by adopting a systematic
approach. On the basis of projects and research carried
out to date the CCSM accident reduction methodology,
discussed in this article, has been developed.
Considering the apparent correlation between personality
and accident risk, selective recruitment and training are
strongly recommended. The development of an accident
monitoring database and of a thorough policy on vehicle
selection and maintenance are also suggested.
A great deal of scope exists for further work on
commercial vehicle accident reduction. Such research is
being undertaken at the University of Huddersfield.
Recent and current projects are assessing:
l accident monitoring and good practice in a large
distribution company;
l detailed causes of accidents involving commercial
vehicles;
l vehicle accident insurance;
l the opinions and experiences of LGV drivers;
l accident reduction in a large manufacturing/
processing company in the Middle East; and
l the potential to reduce accidents by company car
users.
Besides such company-based research, there is also a
need for much more research at the national level.