§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what statistical evidence is collected about accident rates for large goods vehicle drivers.
§ Mr. ChopeThe statistics available cover road accidents involving personal injury and reported to the police. The standard report prepared by the police and submitted to the Department of Transport includes information on each vehicle involved and identifies the vehicle type. The report also includes the vehicle registration mark of any vehicles involved, and, by linking with data held at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency at Swansea, a more precise definition of vehicle type can be obtained.
Information about the driver includes age, sex and results of any roadside screening breath test, but no other personal details. Information on heavy goods vehicle traffic and movements are produced by the national traffic census and the continuing survey of roads and goods transportation. Information on heavy goods vehicle accident involvement rates is published in "Road Accidents Great Britain 1990: The Casualty Report". The involvement rate of HGVs in injury accidents has fallen from 70 per 100 million vehicle kilometres in 1980 to 56 per 100 million vehicle kilometres in 1990. The casualty rate for HGV drivers was 11 per 100 million vehicle kilometres in 1990.