The UK has the eighth highest yearly fatal HGV collision rate in Europe, according to research conducted by SNAP.
The digital marketplace said its analysis found that the country has an average of 1.13 HGV fatalities per 10,000 road miles.
However, when examining all vehicle types, the UK jumps up the rankings to sixth place, followed by Lithuania in fifth place and Romania taking top spot for the most dangerous roads, with an average of 213.24 fatalities per 10,000 road miles.
With the winter months still upon us, drivers are faced with a substantially larger number of threats, such as ice, storms, darker nights and surface water on the roads, which create greater hazard risks.
SNAP said that over the past decade, the average number of fatal collisions involving HGVs on rural roads had been more than double that on urban roads.
From 2014 to 2023 the annual average of fatal collisions involving HGVs on rural roads was 183.9 incidents per year, compared to just 63.3 on urban roads.
Between 2014 and 2023 fatal collisions on rural roads decreased by just 18%, while urban roads saw a significant reduction of 43%.
Matthew Bellamy, SNAP MD, said: “HGV driver safety is an absolute priority within the haulage industry, so it is crucial that we focus on this during the winter months when roads are more dangerous.
“With Great Britain ranking in the top 10 most hazardous countries for drivers in Europe, the haulage industry must ensure that we are addressing these statistics and focusing on driver safety.”
SNAP’s hazard rating system also revealed that Denmark and Sweden are Europe’s safest countries for truck drivers, with hazard ratings of 0.25 and 0.06 respectively.
