Ministry of Transportation Report Shows Car Drivers More Likely to be Cause of Accidents Involving Tractor-Trailers

December 6, 1999

OTA wants car drivers to be trained and tested on how to safely share the road with big rigs.

The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) has released its latest annual report on road safety in the province and the results (which are for 1997) show once again that tractor-trailers and truck drivers with a Class A licence are the safest vehicles and drivers on the road.

The results, which show that car drivers are more likely to have been driving improperly, to have been drinking, or to have been operating cars with mechanical defects when they are involved in accidents with tractor-trailers, have prompted the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) to unveil a public education and awareness campaign on how to safely share the road with big rigs.

According to OTA president, David Bradley, "the trucking industry is prepared to accept responsibility for the safety of its drivers and vehicles, and while there is always room for improvement, there is also an onus on car drivers to enhance their knowledge of how to safely share the road with tractor-trailers." Bradley says that every time he hears reports of a jack-knifed tractor-trailer, the first thing he thinks is that another truck has been cut-off by a four wheeler. He says that the training and testing of car drivers should include a component on how to safely share the road with other types of vehicles, especially trucks. And, the Ontario Road Safety Annual Report would appear to support his point of view.

The latest report shows that tractor-trailers represented only 3% of the vehicles involved in all reportable collisions in 1997 -- down from 3.2% in 1996. The number of tractor-trailers involved in fatal collisions remained constant at 91, but the number of personal injury and property damage accidents decreased by 1.7% in 1997. In total, tractor-trailers represent only 1.2% of the vehicles involved in all personal injury collisions and 1.7% of the vehicles involved in all property damage collisions.

Moreover, the numbers clearly show that tractor-trailers and their drivers are not to blame in the vast majority of the accidents in which they are involved. For example, tractor-trailer drivers with a Class A licence were deemed to be driving properly -- or not at fault -- in 71.6% of the fatal accidents they were involved in. By comparison, automobile drivers involved in fatal collisions with trucks were found to be driving properly in only 45.4% of accidents. Truck drivers continue to be the least likely to be drinking and driving. While 24% of automobile drivers involved in fatal accidents with tractor-trailers had been drinking, alcohol was a factor for only 1% of truck drivers.

And, for all the attention truck mechanical defects have been garnering in the media, defective equipment was found to be a factor in only 1% of fatal accidents involving tractor trailers in 1997 (The number was 2.2% in 1996). The report also provided information regarding mechanical defects in cars involved in fatal accidents with tractor-trailers. Mechanical defects in cars involved in fatal accidents with trucks were cited as a factor in 3.4% of the cases.

The report also corroborates other research recently compiled by MTO that shows that between 1988 and 1997, fatalities involving trucks dropped by 20.5%, even though the number of trucks (Class A and D) increased by 8% over the same period. MTO has also determined that on the basis of miles travelled, the collision rate for Class A trucks has declined from 7.9 per million kilometres travelled to 5.4 million kilometres in 1997.

For many years, OTA has distributed brochures and posters with the sharing the road safely message. A team of professional truck drivers, the OTA Road Knights, give talks on sharing the road to hundreds of public groups each year. And soon, OTA, in association with a group of industry suppliers, will be unveiling a new video on sharing the road with a truck that can be obtained from OTA.

- 30 -