An enlightened response to Hwy. 401 tragedy

I received an e-mail yesterday from “An Angry Trucker’s Wife,” who, like so many other readers I’ve talked to over the past 10 days, was upset that truck drivers seem to be taking undue criticism for highway safety following the tragic Sept. 3 accident near Windsor, Ont., on Hwy. 401.

Indeed, the newspapers in Southern Ontario have spilled a lot of ink over the truck-safety issue lately, particularly on the letters-to-the-editor pages, where the prevailing sentiment seems to be that truck drivers are underskilled and overabundant on the highways. Among these letter writers was no less than a federal trade commissioner, who, in a letter published Sept. 13 in the Globe & Mail, suggested we’d all be better off if more freight shifted to rail.

The expected trucking-industry rebuttal from David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association and CEO of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, followed the next day.

But for those of you who have lost faith that an enlightened response would come from the teeming masses (Debbie, I’m thinking of you), here’s the text of a letter also published in the Globe & Mail. I found it at the OTA’s Web site yesterday, along with the text of David’s letter (I encourage you to read it by using the link to the OTA site.)

I can’t vouch for all the statistics Dr. Starreveld cites. I just thought you might be interested in what the guy had to say.

Thanks for reading. Keep it up. Don’t hesitate to write.

Stephen Petit

NewsFIRST & Today’s Trucking

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Dear Globe & Mail Editor:

“News reports on the 63-vehicle accident on Highway 401 that killed seven people referred to heavy fog and ‘Aggressive driving’ as the root causes.” So starts trade commissioner Derek Zeisman’s article in September 13’s Globe and Mail. Also mentioned in recent news reports are that most important sources of evidence in sorting out the cause of the aftermath, have been obliterated by the post-crash fire. This complete absence of factual information is no barrier to the short haul from speculation to the subsequent conviction and sentencing of the trucking industry.

I have no personal interest in trucks on the 401, but do drive it regularly, so thought I would see what facts I could discover.

Truck traffic is indeed increasing, especially on the section of 401 between Windsor and Toronto. Truck vehicle registrations in Ontario have increased from 157,310 to 164,588 in the period from 1988 to 1996.

American registered truck traffic has also increased. Despite these increases, figures from Transport Canada (1997 Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics, TP 3322, Sep 1998) indicate that total highway fatalities have decreased from 4575 to 3231, and the annual fatality rate per 10,000 vehicles has decreased from 4 to 1. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation notes in its 1996 “Ontario Road Safety Facts” publication that the number of trucks in fatal crashes has declined from 200 in 1988 to 149 in 1996.

Truck maintenance is another issue of relevance. Are those 18 (and more) wheeled behemoths really just thinly disguised fragmentation grenades? The trucking industry balks at onerous inspections and roadside safety checks. Instances of wheels coming off or brakes failing certainly make the news. Police officers investigating motor vehicle collisions are impartial. In the 1996 MTO report, police accident reports involving tractor trailers have been collated. In 91% of the reports, the vehicles involved had “no apparent defects.” Only four percent of the time was a mechanical defect found.

How about the drivers? According to Zeisman, they drive aggressively and at excessive speeds. They weave in and out of traffic, or drive so slowly that they block traffic. In the MTO collation of police collision reports, 71% of truck drivers involved in accidents were “driving properly” at the time. This contrasts with only 40% of drivers in passenger cars who were “driving properly” when involved in accidents.

This is compatible with the fact that a trucker is a professional at work when driving. She or he is trained and certified to a far higher level than the casual motorist. Indeed safety is placed at such a high level that applicants for driving positions need not bother applying without a clean driving record.

Perhaps, in the light of this information, ridding our roads of this scourge is not as critical as Mr. Zeisman contends. Nevertheless, it would be nice to exact another tax or levy or fee, since according to him “the money they pay out in fuel taxes don’t [sic] come close to paying the bills they’re responsible for.” Thinking that this might not be the whole picture, I just sent an e-mail to the Ontario Trucking Association. Got a response 16 minutes later from Rebecka Torn, their communications manager: “A typical tractor-trailer raises about $40,000 a year in federal/provincial taxes and fees.” With the approximately 170,000 registered trucks, that works out to $6.8 billion dollars.

I agree that when a truck hits a Honda, terrible things will happen. I also agree that there are some truck drivers who are aggressive, who fall asleep, who cause collisions. Mechanical failures will also occur.

Perhaps the root of the problem is not so much the trucks as it is the people in automobiles that, according to Zeisman, are “squeezed and harassed into performing dangerous and aggressive measures, often for their own protection.” According to the MTO police reports, the vast majority of trucks involved in fatal accidents were not turning, swerving, breaking down, or being driven by sleeping drivers – they were being driven, straight ahead by a competent professional. If passenger car drivers feel they are being forced into performing dangerous and aggressive maneuvers, perhaps it is best not to perform them in front of a 100,000 pound truck. As Richard Feynman, said of the 1981 space shuttle disaster, “reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”

Sincerely,

Yves Starreveld, MD

Clinical Neurological Sciences – Neurosurgery
University of Western Ontario
John Robarts Research Institute – Imaging Research Labs