This chapter deals with the working environment for professional drivers. Professional drivers are a heterogenous group with a variety of working tasks beside the primary driving task. The nature of driving itself can differ between the various drivers due to type of commercial vehicle (heavy vehicles, passenger cars) and type of transport i.e. people and goods. There are also professionals like policemen, postmen, and salesmen who spend much of their working time driving without usually being considered as professional drivers. Common to all mentioned driver groups is that their working situation is defined by a vehicle in a traffic situation. They also have to perform their work in collaboration with contemporary drivers and other road users. Professional drivers often have higher and different demandson the vehicles and the driving environment compared to private drivers (e.g. high quality seats, assault protection). But the automotive industry often directs its design efforts towards the occasional driver's needs and expectations and manufacturers of heavy vehicles often focus on carriage capacity. The focus in this chapter is the working environment for thelargest groups of professional drivers (lorry, bus and taxi drivers). Most of the examples refer to bus drivers' working environment, where many of the professional drivers' common problems can be found. The presentation is concentrated to effects on drivers' safety and health due to the physical design of the vehicle. Organisational and social aspects of the working environment will not be covered. This is a reprint from "The workplace", Volume 2, "Major Industries and Occupations", Part 3 "Transport", pp 239-265. 1997. (A)
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