TORONTO, Ont. — The MTO 2001 Road Safety Report says Ontario’s roads were North America’s safest that year, and tractor-trailers and their drivers are the safest vehicles and drivers on the road.

In 2001, tractor-trailer units, including double-trailer combinations and bob-tailing tractors, represented only 1.8 per cent of all vehicles involved in all collisions on Ontario roadways. Moreover, these big rigs accounted for only 6.5 per cent of all the vehicles involved in all fatal collisions that year.

The ORSAR report highlights the professionalism inherent in the trucking industry from the drivers behind the wheel to the maintenance shops.

Notably, the data compiled by MTO shows that where persons were killed in collisions involving trucks, the truck driver is not at fault in the vast majority of cases. Indeed, for 2001, the truck driver was deemed to have been driving properly in 72 per cent of the fatal collisions. This number has not been lower than 69 per cent in any of the past five years and has been trending upwards steadily.

Truck drivers are also the least likely to be drinking and driving. The ORSAR report found that in 2001, drinking and driving was a factor amongst only 2.3 per cent of the truck drivers involved in fatal collisions, compared to over 16 per cent for the entire driving population (including truck drivers).

The report also found that vehicle defects were a factor in only six per cent of trucks involved in fatal collisions in 2001.

“The trucking industry shares its workplace with the public – it’s a responsibility we as an industry take very seriously,” says David Bradley, president, Ontario Trucking Association. “The ORSAR numbers show once again
that the Ontario trucking industry uses safe equipment that is driven professionally and responsibly by the finest truck driving professionals in North America.”

The report also found that the longest double-trailer truck configurations allowed on Ontario’s roads are very safe. These longer trucks (A, B and C trains) represented 0.075 per cent of all the vehicles involved in
collisions and 0.31 per cent of the trucks involved in all fatal collisions.

The report found there were 1,247,397 trucks registered in Ontario in 2001 – 161,737 for which a Class A driver’s licence is required. It also found that there were more than 95,500 holders of a Class A driver’s licence in
Ontario that year.