  Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are involved in 4.5% of police-reported road
crashes in Europe and 14.2% of fatal road crashes. Active and passive safety
systems can help to prevent crashes or mitigate the consequences but need
detailed scenarios to be designed effectively. The aim of this paper is to give
a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of HGV crashes in Europe. The analysis
is based on general statistics from CARE, results about trucks weighing 16 tons
or more from national crash databases and a detailed study of in-depth crash
data from GIDAS. Three scenarios are identified that should be addressed by
future safety systems: (1) rear-end crashes with other vehicles in which the
truck is the striking partner, (2) conflicts during right turn maneuvers of the
truck and a cyclist and (3) pedestrians crossing the road perpendicular to the
direction of travel of the truck.
