Insurance claims data from many companies and research undertaken at the University of Huddersfield suggests that between a quarter to a third of all reported freight transport collisions arise from vehicles reversing/backing, in some cases many more. Despite this, the vast majority of such collisions go unnoticed at the government and company levels.
As a result there is only limited comparative data and, until recently, very few specific reversing-based reduction interventions such as vehicle-mounted safety cameras have been implemented by vehicle operators, driver trainers or policy makers.
This report comprises a ‘where are we now gap analysis’ or audit, as a starting point to address the reversing safety issue. This provides a thorough understanding of the problem and allows decisions to be made on the most appropriate actions to take.