Factors Affecting the HGV Drivers' Fatigue & Road Accidents

One of the major factor causing road accidents is driver's fatigue. Studies conducted in a number of countries reveal that driver's fatigue is the main cause of 30 to 40 percent of road accidents. On the basis of last reports, 20 percent of public transport fleets' accidents in Iran are occurred due to drivers' fatigue. Considerable share of driver's fatigue in causing road accidents is also true for Police reports also support this claim. In studying the issue of driver's fatigue, the fatigue of public transport drivers comparing to that of the private cars revels that the public transport drivers are more vulnerable to accident ratherthan private cars due to the longer hours and the distance travelled. Hence, in many countries all over the world, by limiting the working hours of the professional drivers it hasbeen attempted to reduce 536 the accidents resulting from fatigue. Therefore different ruleson permitted working hours and the rest period of the drivers of public transport is introduced and implemented in other countries. In this research a thorough investigationwas carried out on a number of countries and comparison of conclusion was made with Iran

Keywords:

Fatigue , HGV drivers , Accident , Road safety