The use of safety belts among Europe’s truck drivers is growing steadily. Still, however, fewer than half of all truck drivers use a safety belt. A recent study by the CEESAR research institute showed that the number of fatalities and injuries in traffic accidents would decrease by 40 per cent if everyone buckled up.
Road accidents are one of the most common causes of death in modern society. Between 2001 and 2008, 375,000 people were killed in traffic accidents in Europe. A key reason for this high death rate is that many Europeans still do not use safety belts. Truck drivers are at particularly high risk in road traffic.
Safety belt use among truck drivers ranges from 10 to 70 per cent in European countries, with an average of 50 per cent of drivers using the life-savers. This is despite the fact that safety belts are the best guarantee of safety in the event of an accident. A recent study by the CEESAR research institute showed that the number of fatalities and injuries in traffic accidents would decrease by 40 percent if everyone drove with safety belts. 6 out of 10 people involved in accidents would have suffered less serious injuries if they had used safety belts.
But what is the reason behind this lack of use of the safety belt? This is a question that Volvo Trucks’ Traffic and Product Safety Director, Carl-Johan Almqvist, has long grappled with.
“Many drivers live under the impression that it is much safer to drive a big truck than a small passenger car,” he says.
This is certainly true, but the argument fails for drivers who drive into concrete bridge supports even at very low speeds. And it is the unbelted truck drivers who overturn who suffer the really severe injuries.
“We human beings quite simply have no speed sensors. We can read the speed on a gauge, but we have no means of registering speed within our own bodies,” says Carl-Johan Almqvist. He explains, “This contrasts with our feeling for height as you would never jump from a height of four metres and just hope for the best. However, in terms of trauma to the human body, this resembles a head-on collision at 30 kilometres an hour without a safety belt. We understand height but not speed,”
It is also a question of attitudes.
An Paepen is responsible for Volvo Trucks Driver Development – a driver training programme for professional drivers. She has heard just about every reason there is to explain why drivers do not use safety belts.
“It varies with the type of driver. Many distribution drivers feel it is annoying to put their belts on and take them off when they are only driving short distances between stops. Long-distance drivers want to be as comfortable in their workplace as they are at home in the sofa and construction drivers like to be able to hop out of their seats should something go wrong,” says An Paepen and continues, “But it is also a question of age. The older generation, who did not grow up with safety belts, are on their way out. The youth of today are much more accustomed to using safety belts.”
