Euro study finds cars at fault in most accidents

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Just like in North America, a study of truck-car accidents across the pond has revealed that the vast majority of the mishaps are caused by the four-wheelers.

The European Truck Accident Causation Study, which was conducted by the European Commission and the International Road Transport Union, looked at 624 accidents, each of which involved one commercial motor vehicle as well as at least one injured person.

A full 85 percent of the accidents could be attributed to human error, and in 75 percent of those, the humans who erred were car drivers.

Shockingly, 84 percent on American car drivers didn’t
know what to do when approaching a steady yellow.

The rest of the accidents were attributed to weather conditions (4.4 percent); road and infrastructure problems (5.1 percent); or mechanical problems (5.3 percent). Fatigue was cited as a contributing factor in six percent of the accidents.

The European study mirrors the results of similar North American studies that showed trucks are at fault in a minority of crashes.

In related news, a recent American study conducted by GMAC Insurance has discovered that one in six drivers — about 36 million licensed Americans — would flunk a written driver’s test if it were administered today.

According to the research, New York drivers fared worst — 36 percent of them would fail the test.

GMAC Insurance conducts this test annually, and this year the two most troublesome questions had to do with following and warning signs.

Eighty one percent couldn’t say how far to stay behind the vehicle in front of you (two seconds in a car); and 84 percent didn’t know what to do when approaching a steady yellow light.

What you’re supposed to do at a yellow light, incidentally, is stop.