A survey by the European Transport Federation (ETF) has found that almost 1 in 3 lorry drivers have fallen asleep behind the wheel, while 6 in 10 truckers say they have had to drive when fatigued on a regular basis.
As many as 2,861 truck and coach drivers took part in the survey, in which 52% of truck drivers also reported wanting to pull over and take a break when feeling tired, but were unable to do so. Moreover, 772 of the drivers surveyed said they had nearly crashed and caused a major road accident due to driver fatigue.
In a statement reacting to the survey results, the European Transport Federation said:
Long hours for low wages, unpredictable working time, virtually no real breaks, bad sleep and rest facilities, inadequately equipped vehicles, all while slaloming buses full of passengers and trucks filled to the brim with goods through heavy traffic. All this adds up to driver fatigue, endangering the safety of drivers and other road users, increasing the risk of accidents on EU roads.
The ETF argues that the measures taken by employers and European policy makers to tackle the issue of fatigue among professional drivers are insufficient.
As a result, the ETF is calling for the Europe’s politicians and the transport industry to do as follows:
- to guarantee fair wages – current extremely low wages force drivers to work longer hours to make a decent living
- to ensure that drivers are remunerated for all work-related tasks, which is not always the case
- to stop plans to make driving and rest time rules more flexible in freight and passenger transport
- to put eliminating driver fatigue at the core of the EU road safety strategies
- to ensure that professional drivers’ pay, working time and rest conditions are properly enforced
- to ensure that derogations from rules are done by the book, and not to permanently extend drivers’ hours, keep them away from home and worsen rest conditions.
Begüm Boynukalin, ETF Communications Officer, says that delaying or refusing to introduce the measures above “will result in fatal consequences for road safety”.
Photo credit: Trans.INFO
