One third of fatal occupational injuries in Sweden are related to motor vehicles. Injuries to occupants of passenger cars predominate, but the circumstances of truck and bus associated injuries were less known. Samples of injured truck drivers who were on the sick list for at least 30 days or who were fatally injured, and drivers employed by the state irrespective of the severity of the injuries, were selected for closer examination. In total 231 cases were included. The main aim was to define vehicle related causes of injuries to the occupants. Records from hospitals, police authorities and departments of forensic medicine were scrutinized. Survivors, 186 cases, were interviewed by telephone.

Occupant restraints were rarely used. This ircumstance contribucted to the severity of the injuries. Overturning, ejection, deformation of occupants' space in cabover trucks, impacts onto windshields and steering wheels and by steering wheel spokes onto hands and wrists were often important circumstances. Impacts to the lower extremities by the steering column and details of the dash-board were also frequent.

Mitigating consequences of crashes is especially well motivated by those who suffered injuries after driving off the road to avoid collisions with smaller vehicles.