Deadly Truck Crashes are Up in Ontario

Published July 17, 2018 at 2:17 pm

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Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say they’re “dismayed” by the spike in deadly transport truck-related crashes in 2018.

And they’re cracking down on truckers with another blitz this week.

This time it’s called Operation Safe Trucking, which ends July 21.

Fatal transport truck collisions are up in all but two of the OPP’s six regions, with its North East Region marking the highest increase this year at 800 per cent.

OPP have responded to 33 transport truck-related collisions so far this year, marking a 38 per cent increase when compared to this time last year. Forty one (41) people have died in the crashes.

Here’s a year-to-date (Jan. 1 to July 9, 2018) fatal transport truck crashes comparison in the OPP’s six regions versus 2017.  

“We continue to work diligently with our road safety and trucking industry partners toward our goal of reducing the number of transport truck collisions on our roads,” said Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Vince Hawkes,

“Despite our efforts, it takes a firm commitment to safe driving on the part of all transport truck drivers and other motorists in order to see a significant reduction in these types of collisions.” 

Hawkes said OPP have never been more committed to its Commercial Motor Vehicle Collision Mitigation Strategy. 

During Operation Safe Trucking, the OPP will be well-resourced to address speeding and other forms of aggressive driving, distracted/inattentive driving, driver impairment, hours of service and equipment violations, and lack of occupant restraint.

OPP say they’ve investigated more than 3,600 transport truck-related collisions, which represent 11 per cent of the total number of collisions (34,461).

In addition, police have spent nearly 4,300 hours on transport truck inspections and taken 658 vehicles out of service.

More than 1,615 speeding charges, 354 distracted driving charges and 963 defective equipment-related charges have been laid against transport truck drivers.

Graphic courtesy of OPP

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