Nov. 11 – Canadian trucks and truckers are the safest vehicles on Canadian roads, according to a report on commercial vehicle safety prepared by Transport Canada for the years 1992-1996.

“When truck accidents occur, they can have a significant impact on highway traffic flow,” said David Bradley, CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance. “But the fact of the matter is that the perception these occurrences creates overshadows the reality of truck safety.”
A recent slew of truck accidents in the Toronto area in the past couple of months has everyone from driver training groups to Canadians for Reliable and Safe Highways calling for something to be done. (http://www.heavytruck.com/tn/news.html#981109.1040)
The report found that in 1996, tractor-trailers represented 1.8% of the vehicles involved in the 1.1 million collisions reported in Canada, and the number has been declining steadily since 1994. In addition, the number of tractor-trailers involved in fatal accidents in 1996 was at the lowest level in four years.
“On the whole, tractor-trailer involvement [in accidents] has remained stable over the five-year period,” Bradley says. “This is despite the fact that the number of tractor-trailers on Canadian roads has increased, as well as the kilometers driven.”
The Transport Canada report also shows that driver fatigue was a factor in only 1.7% of the accidents for all commercial vehicles (no breakout is available for tractor-trailers only.)