Staff Reporter
Joking about which side of the road people drive on around the world aside, it turns out that driving on European roads is safer than on the roads in the United States.
First thing’s first, did you know that texting while driving in the States is actually legal?
It might not seem like a big thing as, when driving through heavy traffic, some people might be tempted to glance down at their mobile phones to see if anybody has taken something they’ve said on Twitter out of context.
It’s not all doom and gloom over the pond – as the British would say – it also turns out that driving stalwarts, truckers, actually earn more than their European counterparts.
Truckers in Europe earn a figure in the region of 28,000€ per year, which is significantly lower than what they’d earn in America – which is a figure around 36,500€ per year to do the same job.
This increase in wage may come down to the state of road safety in the America. In 2015 there were a total of 35,092 traffic related deaths in America – an 11% increase on 2014, according to the World Health Organisation.
By comparison, just a year before, Spain saw only 1,730 traffic related deaths. Now, it’s easy to say “well the US has more people” and while that is exactly right, the States’ numbers result in around one death per 1,000 inhabitants while Spain’s numbers result in, roughly, one death per 3,000 inhabitants.
This is actually a surprise as truckers in Europe more often than not work in excess of 48 hours per week – and quite often even over 60 hours per week. In America, drivers are not allowed to work more than 60 hours in a week.
Spending the best part of your days on the road is not the lifestyle for everybody but, in the US, it seems it’s a more appealing choice and there’s a guarantee that you will not be overworked.
A long haul journey in America will see you be away from home for up to six weeks but, in Europe, you may be expected to stay on the road for months at a time.
This sometimes, depending on lifestyle choices, might actually be a preferable thing to do in Europe as some people may be looking for a form of escapism and a way to make money while doing so.
Whereas trucking in Europe may be a way to explore the continent and line your pockets it seems that doing so in America isn’t quite as enjoyable as it would be in Europe but it certainly is a great way to make some good, honest, hard earned money.
Hands free, voice to text system – not hand held texting. Eye do not need to leave road, nor hands the wheel.
The “safety statistics” presented are flawed. What would be interesting is to know the chance of a US trucker being involved in an accident resulting in injury or death and the same for a European trucker. Just knowing the number of traffic deaths from all types of vehicles in each area tells us nothing about trucker safety.
Doesn’t really matter what you earn: It’s what you take home & what it’ll buy you. But apart from money there’s the lifestyle & what goes with it. Hi crime rates & health care come to mind.
BBC America report spoke of the applaing conditions for EU truckers. Big companies subcontract to small companies who hire Moldovans, Poles, Ukrainians and Romanians for EU220 per months with no benefits. Safety requirements for rest are ignored. US conditions don’t allow such conditions; state police inspect drivers’ documents and logs on every highway in America. The above report is largely nonsense.