###### Abstract  
To achieve the elimination of the negative impacts of transport on road safety, the European Union is taking various measures resulting from its commitment to improve road safety. The main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of social legislation on road transport safety using real research and to identify the factors influencing the violation of the legislation depending on the type of transport carried out in domestic or international road freight transport. Answers from the respondents are used in the segmentation of truck drivers based on input data describing the factors influencing the violation of traffic rules. Two-step cluster analysis is a suitable method for the segmentation of truck drivers based on input data. These data are obtained through a questionnaire from a total of 472 Czech and Slovak truck drivers. The results show that the optimal number of types of truck drivers with different characteristics is four. All of the clusters are described and compared. The majority of truck drivers do not violate social legislation for several reasons, such as traffic accidents (almost 67%), complications in meeting the loading or unloading deadline (less than 88%), poorly planned transport routes (more than 90%) and driving home (almost 80%). road freight transportation; truck drivers; social legislation; policymaking +
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of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the harmonization of certain social legislation relating to road transport. This regulation indicates that the daily driving time should not exceed nine hours. The daily driving time may be extended to, at most, 10 h, no more than twice during the week. The weekly driving time should not exceed 56 h and should not result in the maximum weekly working time laid down. The total accumulated driving time during any two consecutive weeks should not exceed 90 h. After a driving period of four and a half hours, a driver should take an uninterrupted break of no less than 45 min unless he takes a rest period. This break may be replaced by a break of at least 15 min, followed by a break of at least 30 min, each distributed over the period in such a way as to comply with the provisions of the first paragraph [10]. It is necessary to add that the driver must comply with the legislation of the country in which he is located. It is precisely this time that differs within individual continents or countries. Table 1 shows the maximum driving times and minimum rest periods in selected countries [12]. As can be seen, there are two groups of states. The European Union, Australia and New Zealand have a shorter time for continuous driving compared to the USA and Canada. The European Union countries have the longest rest periods. Drivers in Australia have the shortest daily rest period (only 7 h). On the other hand, drivers in New Zealand have the longest two-week driving period. According to [PERSON] et al. [12], the EU legislation governing driver employment offers the strictest working conditions possible, giving drivers ample time to rest during a reasonable vehicle drive. However, these conditions also encourage drivers to drive more quickly. In the research of [PERSON] et al. [13], a significant percentage of the violations committed by international laudage truck drivers involved in serious auto accidents pertained to following the regulations for drivers' hours or total working hours. With urban growth and the progressive increase in the number of transport vehicles on roads, the expansion of motorization on roads generally offers many benefits but also some drawbacks and risks [14; 15]. Every year, 20-50 million people suffer financial or physical damage as a result of road traffic accidents, which claim the lives of around 1.35 million people worldwide [16]. Of course, the driving style also matters [17]. This corroborates the findings of [PERSON] and [PERSON] [18], who report that, as Indonesia's population and automobile ownership have grown, so too has the number of accident deaths.