TORONTO, ON – The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is reassuring the public of their commitment to road safety.

In a statement released today the OTA says despite the recent media coverage about fatal crashes involving commercial vehicles, trucks are the safest vehicles on the road.

The statement comes as a fatal collision involving two tractor-trailers shut down eastbound lanes on Ontario Highway 401, and day after the Ontario Provincial Police charged three more commercial vehicle drivers in 10 deaths on Ontario’s highways this summer.

The OTA says the most recent province-wide truck related safety statistics show that only 1.8% of large trucks involved in collisions between 2010-2014 had a mechanical defect that could have contributed to a crash, and in only 28.3% of fatal collisions in the same time-period did the police determine the truck driver was not driving properly.

Trucks were involved in just under 19% of road fatalities in the province in the four-year time frame.

The group says that between 1995 and 2014, although large truck vehicle registrations have increased by 75%, the fatality rate from large truck collisions has decreased by 66%.

OTA president Stephen Laskowski said these statistics reflect the industry’s commitment to safety.

“It is OTA’s goal – a goal shared by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Transportation – to enforce the full extent of the law for the minority of carriers and drivers who do not share this commitment to safety,” he said.

OTA will be part of an upcoming working group with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and the Ontario Provincial Police to develop strategies to reduce distracted and aggressive driving.