This article describes research undertaken to ascertain causes of heavy vehicle accidents in France, with special reference to driver behaviour. The study covered serious accidents which took place in or around Salon de Provence. The hospital switchboard gave notice of the accidents, which made it possible to work immediately at the site of the accident. About 33 incidents were analyzed. The analysis was based on information provided by the "accident file", which contained all information collected at the site of the accident and which contained data about the road, the drivers and the vehicles involved in the crash. At least one of the vehicles involved had to have a gross weight over 3.5 metric tons. An analysis sheet was drawn up containing a summary of all the details relevant to the accident, including details about route choice and working conditions. These data were then analyzed and accidents which developed in similar ways were grouped together, thus providing scenarios of different types of accident. Hypotheses about the cause of the accident were then worked out. Those concerning driver behaviour are described in some detail, including lack of diligence, heavy work load at the time of the accident, working conditions which forced the driver to hurry, use of short cuts, or behaviour caused by the relatively poor manoeuvrability of the vehicle.
Abstract