Require new drivers to learn how to share the road with trucks, says CTA’s Bradley

OTTAWA (Jan. 24, 2002) — Provincial governments should require all driver education courses and drivers’ license tests to information and testing on how to safely share the road with trucks, the Canadian Trucking Alliance said.

The CTA, Canada’s largest industry lobby group, was responding to a Transport Canada study released yesterday that shows that in the vast majority of car-truck collisions the driver of the personal vehicle was at fault.

“This study is the latest to confirm that professional truck drivers are the safest on the road,” said David Bradley chief executive officer of CTA. “Unfortunately it also confirmed that motorists too often cause collisions between cars and trucks. All road users have a responsibility to make our roads safe.”

The study, called Heavy Truck Collisions 1994-1998, shows that where drivers’ actions were assessed, in fatal car-truck collisions involving two vehicles, 74% of personal vehicle drivers were found to not have been driving properly.

According to Bradley, provincial governments should act quickly on this latest report and require that driver education courses and testing include a “sharing the road” component.

He noted that a federal-provincial committee of transportation officials had recently been created to look at this issue.

“This report should energize the committee to move quickly to come up with some recommendations,” said Bradley. “It seems to me that making ‘sharing the road’ knowledge and testing mandatory for first-time drivers as well as people renewing their licenses would be a low-cost, high-return safety initiative.”

“We hear all the time that some motorists are nervous or intimidated when driving around or near transport trucks. Truck drivers on the other hand complain that many motorists don’t appear to understand the differences between the operating characteristics of cars and trucks. While better driver education and testing would not guard against driver impairment, it would provide motorists with the basic rules for sharing the road safely and increase their comfort-level near trucks.”

The CTA and its provincial affiliates already have a “sharing the road” information campaign with the production and distribution of videos and information brochures. He said his association would get behind any government efforts to educate Canadians on the need to follow basic rules when near heavy trucks.