The OPP says it a serious road safety issue as it investigates thousands of preventable transport trailer collisions every year.
Heading into the weekend, the North Bay Detachment of the OPP is reminding the motoring public about Operation Safe Trucking. This annual campaign focuses on enforcing the rules of the road and moving violations, with a focus on Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMV).
In 2015 and 2016, the OPP responded to a total of 13,668 collisions that involved a large commercial transport truck. Over that two-year period, 155 people lost their lives in those collisions. Last year marked a ten-year high in fatal CMV collisions, with 91 people being killed in 76 collisions.
As the OPP gears up for its Operation Safe Trucking campaign, it is dismayed at fatal transport truck collisions being up in all but two of the OPP’s six regions, with its North East Region marking the highest increase this year at 800 per cent. So far this year in this region there have been nine fatalities due to CMV collisions, compared to one in 2017.
The North Bay OPP is reminding the public that officers will be focusing on violations such as Follow too close, Speeding, Improper lane change, Distracted Driving, Improper Turns, Fail to Yield Right of Way, Improper Passing and Disobey Traffic Control. These violations are attributable to many CMV involved collisions and the OPP remind the public to drive carefully so that everyone can make it home safely.
