Collisions involving transport trucks on the rise in Ontario

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are noticing an increase in collisions involving transport trucks, with 2022 recording the highest number in more than a decade.

Last year, the OPP responded to 9,110 crashes that involved a transport truck, which made up 12 per cent of overall collisions. Of those crashes, 71 were fatal.

People who work in the trucking industry say high quality training is an important part of reducing that number.

“If you get in the right school and they train you the right way and have you doing the right things, then I feel like a lot of it you can definitely avoid, because a lot of it has to do with defensive driving,” truck driver Adrian Dib said.

“Nowadays, there’s so many crazy drivers on the road, and defensive driving is definitely one of the ways to avoid those crazy drivers.”

Not all schools train the same way. Experts say more in-depth training will typically result in more success on the road.

“Schools are given a mandate, but that’s the minimum training. That’s the bottom base to qualify for a road test. Is that good enough? Probably not,” Jim Campbell, a district manager of Ontario Truck Driving School, said.

“Once you’re in the driver’s seat and no one else is in the vehicle, you realize how much you don’t know," he added.

Campbell said there has been an increase in more people looking to get truck training recently.

“We see people that want courses and want training done right now,” he explained.

Education for other drivers on the road is also part of decreasing the number of truck-involved crashes.

In 2022, police laid 2,858 charges in transport-truck collisions. The majority were to truck drivers at 1,760, while 1,098 were to passenger vehicles.

“When you’re driving a passenger vehicle, and you cut in front of a commercial motor vehicle, it takes a while for them to stop,” Jake Elovitra with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance said, adding blindspots are also a consideration.

“We say that if you can’t see the driver in the mirror, that driver can’t see you.”

In an effort to address the upward trend, the OPP and Ministry of Transportation will take part in Operation Safe Driver Week from July 9 to 15.

It will involve increased enforcement and education around commercial motor vehicle safety.