Safety of light goods vehic­les

The UDV (German Insurers Accident Research), the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) and DEKRA carried out a joint project to examine in detail the accidents involving light goods vehicles and developed proposals for how to further improve the safety of these vehicles.

One of the group‘s important conclusions is that it is possible to further improve the safety of light goods vehicles, particularly through a combination of behavior-changing and technical measures. Individual driver training plays a central role in this.

The investigation also shows that accidents involving light goods vehicles take place predominantly on roads outside built-up areas rather than on freeways. The accidents generally happen when the driver makes a mistake or drives inappropriately (e.g. drives at an inappropriate speed or becomes distracted). In future, advanced driver assistance systems can make a contribution towards preventing or having a positive effect on accidents involving light goods vehicles. These systems include emergency braking systems, collision warning systems, reverse assistance cameras, electronic stability control systems and modern lane change assist systems.

As far as passive safety measures are concerned, it is clear that in accidents with cars, the energy-absorbing vehicle structures of light goods vehicles and cars are only compatible to a limited extent. This should be taken into account in future. The safety of passengers in modern light goods vehicles is good overall.