Truck driver notes safety concerns on roadways after witnessing semis collide on Highway 401

An Ontario truck driver is sharing safety concerns on the road after witnessing two tractor-trailers collide in front of him on Thursday, along Highway 401 near Cambridge.

Dashcam footage of the crash, provided by trucker Chase Anderson, shows two trucks colliding at highway speeds, resulting in one truck being pushed into the centre barrier and sustaining heavy damage, and spilling diesel.

“The only thing I'm thinking, how am I going to get around this? Either I go this way, or I slam on the brakes,” he said. “I thought I could try to pass them, and the guy all of a sudden started veering this way, so I locked up my brakes to the point that I cooked off a lot of brake pads.”

The video footage shows a truck crossing three lanes of traffic and colliding with a passing tractor-trailer. The trucks both slam into the concrete median separating east and westbound traffic.

“I locked up my brakes, thinking I was going to be in this collision, and I'm like ‘oh no,”’ said Anderson.

While he was able to avoid the crash, Anderson, who has been driving trucks for a decade, said people are not being as careful around trucks as they used to be.

He said distance is key when it comes to driving around trucks on the highway.

“You see a truck leaving another truck length distance, and we're moving at highway speed -- that's not a gap for people to fill -- that's our safe brake gap,” he said.

The long hours and other pressures of the job are also common issues.

"A lot of the industry is push, push, push, go, go, go. That's why we have a driver shortage,” he said.

POLICE NOTE INCREASE IN CRASHES

This crash comes as police notice more serious collisions involving semis.

"So far this year, we've already had 35 fatal collisions involving commercial motor vehicles, and that's up considerably over the last five years,” OPP Const. Kerry Schmidt said.

Police noted the causes of these crashes come from a number of factors, including the ones Anderson listed from his personal experience as a truck driver.

“Following distance, people not paying attention, aggressive driving and unsafe lane changes are typical situations where people just don't understand,” Schmidt said.

Encountering trucks on highways can be a scary situation for some drivers.

“It's very nerve-wracking,” one person told CTV News Kitchener. “You think they're going to go over the line and it’s fast. If they start to sway a little bit then I kind of like, step on it so I can get by them, but outside that – I'm confident.”

One motorcycle rider said in their experience “it’s been mostly people cutting off drivers and drivers reacting to the traffic around them, but in most cases, they're professional drivers."