Police reports of all the 740 fatal road accidents involving heavy goods vehicles which occurred in Great Britain in 1976 have been studied.

The paper is an extension of an earlier one by the same authors and mentions the loss of control situation but concentrates on the results of analyses of those accidents involving injuries to road users other than the heavy goods vehicle occupants.

By assuming that seat belted occupants of cars and light goods vehicles are able to survive a perpendicular frontal barrier impact at 50 km/h, an assessment has been made of the benefits of fitting front and rear under-run guards of sufficient strength to the heavy goods vehicles. It is estimated that, provided seat belts were worn, front under-run guards would have been of benefit to 10% of all occupants killed in cars and light goods vehicles in accidents involving heavy goods vehicles and rear under-run guards of benefit to an estimated 5% of fatally injured occupants.

Lightweight guards fitted ro the sides of HGVs could possibly prevent fatal injuries to an estimated 15% of the pedal cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians killed by the heavy goods vehicles, mainly by preventing them from being run over.