The Classification of Work and Offenses of Professional Drivers from Slovakia and the Czech Republic

Abstract

To achieve the elimination of the negative impacts of transport on road safety, the European Union is taking various measures resulting from its commitment to improve road safety. The main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of social legislation on road transport safety using real research and to identify the factors influencing the violation of the legislation depending on the type of transport carried out in domestic or international road freight transport. Answers from the respondents are used in the segmentation of truck drivers based on input data describing the factors influencing the violation of traffic rules. Two-step cluster analysis is a suitable method for the segmentation of truck drivers based on input data. These data are obtained through a questionnaire from a total of 472 Czech and Slovak truck drivers. The results show that the optimal number of types of truck drivers with different characteristics is four. All of the clusters are described and compared. The majority of truck drivers do not violate social legislation for several reasons, such as traffic accidents (almost 67%), complications in meeting the loading or unloading deadline (less than 88%), poorly planned transport routes (more than 90%) and driving home (almost 80%).