Basic Facts - Heavy goods vehicles & buses

Heavy goods vehicles & buses

The Basic Fact Sheet Heavy Goods Vehicles & Buses provides accident data for 14 EU countries (EU-15 without Germany) over the period 1996-2005. The fact sheet includes several basic characteristics of fatal road accidents involving heavy goods vehicles and buses. For example: fatalities by road user type, type of road, time of day, day of week, part of year, age and sex or the nationality of vehicles.

Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are defined as goods vehicles of over 3,5 tons maximum permissible gross vehicle weight. Road traffic accidents involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) tend to be more severe than other accidents because of the great size and mass of these vehicles. Buses and coaches are included in this fact sheet because they too are normally relatively large, although minibuses are categorized as buses in some countries.

Fact: Approximately 3.650 people died in road traffic accidents involving HGVs in 2005 (EU-14 plus Estonia, Hungary and Malta).

Fact: Approximately 700 people died in road traffic accidents involving Buses or Coaches in 2005 (EU-14 plus Estonia, Hungary and Malta).

The number of fatalities in accidents involving Heavy Goods Vehicles and Buses or Coaches, EU-14, 1996-2005