Provincial police are continuing to express concerns about highway safety, especially about the number of crashes involving commercial vehicles.
So far this year, the OPP has responded to a total of 227 commercial motor vehicle collisions which resulted in five are fatalities, according to Provincial Const. Matt Foster.
During the same time period last year, the OPP responded to 311 commercial motor vehicle collisions, causing one fatality.
Over the entire year, commercial vehicles were involved in 23 per cent of collisions across Ontario.
Although Foster could not comment on the exact causes of collisions this year, he did say the causes for many of last year’s incidents are similar and preventable.
Of the 639 collisions involving transports in 2022, Foster said 12 were due to mechanical failure, 86 were the result of a collision with animals, 112 were because the driver had lost control, 98 were speed-related during extreme weather conditions, 19 were the result of fatigue, 17 were improper passing, and seven also were excessive speed and improper lane change.
“To me, that tells me that these collisions are preventable,” Foster said.
Foster cautioned transport drivers that there are various offences that govern how commercial motor vehicles operate.
“Compliance with commercial vehicle safety requirements is always in effect for drivers such as inspections, hours of service, secure cargo and the movement of dangerous goods are all critical to keeping the road safe,” said Foster.
As part of Operation Safe Driver, the OPP and the Ministry of Transportation and other road safety partners will conduct targeted enforcement on Ontario highways to ensure that commercial and non-commercial drivers are abiding by all traffic laws.
