National Highways has launched a series of crash tests after identifying a serious safety risk on England’s motorways and major A-roads.

The tests, organised with Euro NCAP and other European road safety organisations, focused on rear-end collisions involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). In these incidents, a smaller vehicle — typically a car — strikes the back of a truck.

Official road casualty statistics show that HGVs accounted for 10% of traffic on England’s motorways and major A-roads in 2024, but were involved in 19% of collisions in which people were killed or seriously injured.

Rear-end shunts were the most common type of HGV-related incident, accounting for 39% of all such collisions in 2024. In the same year, 160 collisions involved a smaller vehicle hitting the rear of an HGV, with this type of collision responsible for 18% of all serious or fatal HGV-related casualties.

To assess how vehicle safety measures perform in real-world conditions, National Highways worked with Euro NCAP on two sets of tests in February and March this year.

The work also involved Sweden’s national transport authority and Germany’s Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club (ADAC), Europe’s largest automobile association, after the organisations raised similar concerns about rear-end collisions.

The first test examined how well car-based AEBS detected the rear of different HGV trailers. Results varied by trailer design, and older systems did not consistently recognise the back of trailers, meaning emergency braking did not always activate.

The second test assessed whether RUP systems could prevent cars from travelling underneath trailers during a collision.

Crash tests of rear underrun devices approved under UNECE regulation highlighted the importance of effective rear protection. Some existing designs did not prevent cars from going underneath trailers, indicating that vehicle occupants would face a severe risk of injury in these collisions.

Further information:

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/crash-tests-after-serious-hgv-road-safety-risk-identified