OPP Keeping Close Eye On Transport Trucks This Week

Fatal Collisions Up 38 Percent

Noting fatal transport truck collisions are up 38 per cent compared to last year at this time OPP officers will be keeping close tabs on the highways this week (Operation Safe Trucking) watching for speeding drivers, as well as signs of distracted and aggressive driving, impairment and equipment violations.

There have been 33 fatal transport truck collisions this year resulting in 41 deaths.

“The OPP has never been more committed to its Commercial Motor Vehicle Collision Mitigation Strategy. 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. 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, ” said Commissioner Vince Hawkes.

Fatal transport truck collisions being 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. There have been two such collisions in Central Region (Simcoe County, Muskoka) – same as last year.

QUICK FACTS

OPP-patrolled roads in 2018:

  • The OPP has investigated more than 3,600 transport truck-related collisions, which represent 11 per cent of the total number of collisions (34,461).
  • The OPP has dedicated close to 4,300 hours to transport truck inspections and taken 658 vehicles out of service.
  • The OPP has laid more than 1,615 speeding charges, 354 distracted driving charges and 963 defective equipment-related charges against transport truck drivers.