TORONTO — The union representing Ontario’s truck safety enforcement officers claims there is no significant improvement in the number of truck related fatalities in the province over last few years.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says the provincial government is failing to reduce the number of truck-related deaths on Ontario highways and cited the most recent Ontario Road Safety Annual Report (ORSAR) indicating 155 people died in collisions with tractor trailers in 2003 to bolster its claim. The study compares vehicle collisions by type and circumstance between 1998 and 2003.

In a rhetorically charged press release entitled “Hearses roll as government fails to curb truck-related deaths” the union used the number to challenge what it says is an Ontario government plan to reduce the number of roadside inspectors across the province.

Inspectors’ union claims truck fatalities going “upward.” Report says different

“This is no time for the Ontario government to be cutting back on truck safety enforcement. Unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening,” said president of OPSEU Local 506 Joe Daniel, who added the province has lost about 70 Transportation Enforcement Officers (TEOs) to attrition that the McGuinty government has failed to replace.

“We don’t see any downward trend in the number of people killed by large trucks over the last 10 years … Reduced enforcement means more unsafe trucks on the road — and more hearses.”

In an interview with TodaysTrucking.com this morning, Daniel denied the union was scaremongering with the release and he dismissed reports showing a downward trend in truck-related fatalities as government “spin.” He points out that there were 24 more fatalities in 2003 than in 1998 (131), indicating that fatalities are “slowly, slowly inching upward.”

However, while the press release may lead some people to think deaths involving truck collision is a growing problem in Ontario, the complete ORSAR paints a different picture. Although 155 truck related fatalities is higher than the number recorded in 1998, the 2003 total is either at par or significantly lower than all other years since 1998. There were 16 fewer truck related deaths in 2003 than in 2002 (171), for example.

Also, the 2003 study mirrors previous years’ reports that show the truck driver was driving properly in those fatal collisions 68 percent of the time. And only 4 percent of collisions are related to tractor-trailer defects, while only 0.7 percent were attributed to alcohol.

Furthermore, Ministry records do indicate a long-term improvement in truck related crashes and deaths over the last 15 years. While trucks make up only 15 percent of road vehicles, they represent 1.6 percent of all reportable collisions. The number of collisions between 1989 and 1999 decreased by 5 percent; and fatalities involving transport trucks decreased by 12 percent even though registrations increased by 10 percent.

The union also pointed out that the annual Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s “Roadcheck” blitz this summer put 19.5 percent of trucks out of service for safety violations. However, the CVSA also reported a major improvement in Roadcheck statistics this year in Canada in comparison to the US. Total Vehicle OSS rates across Canada dropped from 20.5 percent to 17.4 while driver OOS fell from 3.1 to 3.0 percent.

Daniel stresses he isn’t trying to project a negative image onto the entire trucking industry. “I’m not blaming the industry, I think most of the (truckers) spend thousands and thousands of dollars on maintenance and safety,” he said in the interview. “In many ways (the industry’s) concerns and issues don’t differ from our own issues.”

When asked about the controversial nature of the headline for the press release distributed to the media, Daniel admitted “that the news on that particular (release) got people to talk about it.”