While we plan safer roads, let's think about those who use them!

Last weekend, another tragedy occurred on the Ventspils highway. A person died in the collision, and the initial information that has been made public also makes us assess the role of the truck in the incident. Until the investigation is complete, it would be irresponsible to declare someone guilty. However, this misfortune once again raises the question that we discuss for a few days after every serious accident and then put on the shelf until the next tragedy – how safely do light and heavy transport coexist on Latvian roads?

A truck is not just a passenger car with a larger trunk. It is a machine weighing several tens of tons, which requires a longer braking distance, more space for maneuvering, and the consequences of a driver's error can be incomparably more serious. Insurance statistics also confirm this. Data from the Latvian Motor Insurers' Bureau show that in the first seven months of this year, 4153 road traffic accidents caused by truck drivers have already occurred on Latvian roads. For comparison, last year, in 2025, truck drivers caused 6965 road traffic accidents throughout the year.

Of course, the easiest thing would be to say again – the roads are to blame. Undeniably, this is partly true. Latvian highways are narrow in many places, overtaking opportunities are limited, there are no turning and running lanes, and only a faded color stripe on the asphalt separates the opposing traffic flows. Such infrastructure forgives even fewer mistakes for freight transport than for passenger cars.

The roads need to be improved. But a new highway cannot be built until next Monday. It requires projects, procurements and millions. We will see the result in years. So the question is, what can we do now?

The first aspect is driver fatigue. Studies compiled by the European Commission show that fatigue is a significant factor in around 20% of accidents involving heavy commercial vehicles. Furthermore, more than half of long-distance drivers have admitted in various surveys that they have fallen asleep at the wheel at least once.

This is not a trifle. A tired professional driver at the wheel of a machine weighing several tens of tons is like a surgeon who, after a sleepless night, says: “My hand won’t shake.” Maybe it won’t. But do we want to rely on that? We already have tachographs and driving and rest time regulations. So we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We need to make sure that the existing system works and that violations are detected in a targeted manner.

The second option is data. Many modern trucks are already equipped with GPS and telematics systems. They can show not only the location of the vehicle, but also sudden braking and acceleration, speed, driving duration, night driving and a number of other risk indicators. So in many cases, a company can already see which driver is driving calmly and which one is spending their working day as if they were participating in a rally instead of carrying 20 tons of cargo.

Here, a significant role could be played by insurers, who already maintain data systems that allow for the analysis of insurance history data for every active driver. The insurance industry has accumulated significant experience in analyzing customer risk profiles and is interested in developing this expertise even further. It is not for nothing that insurers have been trying to gain access to data that the State Police and the CSDD collect from information obtained from speed cameras for several years. So far, without success!

If a fleet voluntarily shares safe driving data and can prove that its drivers follow a work and rest regime, drive safely and are regularly trained by the company, why shouldn't this be reflected in the price of MTPL and CASCO? On the other hand, for a company whose data regularly signals risky driving, the policy would cost more. Let's be honest – nothing motivates an entrepreneur as effectively as the opportunity to save money. Sometimes, it is the euro that does what ten informative brochures cannot.

Thirdly, it must be admitted that some of the responsibility for accidents caused by trucks lies with drivers of passenger cars. More than once, I have come across a situation where the driver of a passenger car driving in front decides to make a left turn by turning on the turn signal late or not turning it on at all. However, drivers of smaller vehicles should be aware that a heavy truck has a different mass, a different braking distance and different maneuvering capabilities. Therefore, I would recommend that drivers, aware that they need to make a turn, look in the rearview mirror in time, show a turn signal, and, ideally, move a little away from the truck driving behind. Of course, tachographs and telematics will not widen the Ventspils highway and build a safety barrier in the middle. It will not solve all the problems of Latvia's road infrastructure. However, we should not wait ten years until there is perhaps money for ideal roads to start doing things that are possible already today.