Accidents involving lorries manoeuvring in the dark
The Transport Safety Board not only investigates specific accidents, but also conducts thematic studies to closely examine particular types of accidents and safety issues. This report is of a thematic study of accidents involving lorries manoeuvring in the dark, on unlit roads.
In more ways than one, such accidents appear to involve structural safety issues. For example, a number of industrial sites have only a single driveway, and are laid out in such a way that lorries are unable to turn around. This means that the lorries have to reverse either onto or off the site. Furthermore, in the dark, it appears that under certain conditions, the sides of lorries are insufficiently visible/recognisable, even when equipped with the required lighting and reflectors.
The problems uncovered have existed for a long time. In the course of time, measures have been taken (such as requirements for side reflectors and side markings for lorries), but, relatively speaking, a large number of accidents still occur in which the poor visibility and/or recognisability of lorries plays a role. Moreover, it should be noted that not all the opportunities for improving the situation are being utilised. For instance, sections of industrial sites could be made better accessible by constructing an extra driveway and /or changing the layout of the site; and the visibility/recognisability of lorries could be improved by the introduction retro-reflective contour markings (RRCM).
Accidents involving lorries manoeuvring in the dark
Report
