According to a survey by the German Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen), approximately 40,000 lorry accidents happen on German roads every year. In about 150 of them, transporters of hazardous goods are involved. This might not sound like much but even a small number of such accidents can lead to serious consequences for people, the environment, and the economy. The costs caused by hazardous materials leaking into the environment, for example when a tank vehicle is damaged, can be twice as high as those by a “normal” lorry accident.

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