Whiplash: Occupational hazard for lorry drivers

Accidents involving lorries can be fatal, and severe neck injuries like whiplash are common

Lorry accidents, even those at low speeds, can cause chaos on the roads and serious – even fatal – injuries. Whiplash can occur when a vehicle receives impact, most often from behind, which causes the head to jolt back and the body to be pushed forward, placing an enormous amount of strain on the delicate soft tissues of the neck and upper spinal region. The restraining force of the seatbelt then exacerbates the tissue damage as the head rebounds onto the chest.

It’s the swift backward and forward motion which gives whiplash its name, and can cause symptoms which last up to several months, including neck pain, stiffness and tenderness, back pain, headaches and loss of movement. Many of these symptoms can affect daily tasks and life at work – especially if you’re a lorry driver who depends on using the roads for a living.

Severe injuries as lorry driver falls asleep at the wheel

In February 2009 a lorry driver fell asleep at the wheel, causing a six car pile-up on a main road. The driver’s HGV crashed straight into the back of a line of stationary traffic. The driver of the first car to be hit, a Vauxhall Astra, was lucky to survive when the concertina effect of the impact caused the rear half of his car to smash into the front half, remarkably leaving only the driver’s shell unharmed.

It was stated that had there been any back seat passengers in the Astra, they would have been fatally injured, according to police traffic investigators. The driver of the car was fortunate to survive with back and chest injuries and wounds to the waist and groin from his seatbelt. He suffered severe whiplash affecting his neck and upper back.

Accident

A collision in 2008 between two lorries saw an hour-long rescue operation involving 16 fire-fighters to free one of the drivers from underneath his engine, where he was impaled by an 11-inch piece of metal in his back. One of the trucks jack-knifed and spilt its entire tank of diesel across four lanes of the motorway. While the rescue operation almost certainly saved one man’s life, the other was left with whiplash injuries in the huge collision.

Three motorists left with whiplash injury after HGV ordeal

After another accident in 2008, a lorry driver was jailed after he deliberately rammed cars on the M1 motorway. A witness described the driver’s intimidation of other motorists before she became trapped in front of the HGV, with no way to pull over on either side; as the witness tried desperately to drive faster and escape, the lorry driver came closer and eventually rammed the back of her car.

The drivers of the total of three cars shunted by the lorry driver, who pleaded guilty to “three counts of criminal damage with life-endangering recklessness” and dangerous driving (The Guardian Online, 2008), were left with whiplash injuries and thousands of pounds of damage to their vehicles.