Operation Safe Trucking

"Despite giving advance notice, the Ontario Provincial Police stopped close to 3,500 commercial motor vehicles, laid 1,836 charges and took 71 unsafe commercial motor vehicles out of service," the force said in a release.

Officers rode in two OPP transport trucks during the blitz to give them a better vantage point to spot distracted, impaired and aggressive drivers.

Aircraft and sprinter vans were also used for enforcement. The officers in the transport trucks did not pull over vehicles but alerted patrol officers once they spotted drivers breaking the law.

The majority of the charges laid can be broken down as:

• 537 improper documentation charges
• 223 distracted driving charges
• 336 speeding charges
• 111 charges for following too close
• 185 charges for other moving violations
• 185 defective equipment charges

But truck drivers were not the only ones ticketed during the blitz.

The remaining charges were laid against passenger vehicles for violations that include speeding and dangerous driving.

Passenger vehicles also charged
We got complaints from both sides of the aisle, where truck drivers also complained about cars cutting in front of them, taking away their following distance, driving in their blind spots," OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CBC Toronto.

The OPP has responded to over 6,200 collisions that involve transport trucks this year.

"Regardless of what the causes or factors are, our OPP data tells us that the driver of the transport truck is at fault in 65 per cent of the 6,200 collisions," said OPP deputy commissioner Brad Blair previously told CBC News in an interview.

"These kinds of numbers are not something we want to see continue. There are thousands of vehicles at any given time on any stretch of highway. If even one of those get distracted or drive aggressively, it can have a huge ripple down effect," Schmidt said.
After deadly year, OPP stops thousands of trucks in 5-day safety blitz

 

A safety blitz in response to the perception of wide spread unsafe driving results in a whole lot of improper documentation charges, hmm.

 

I was wondering about that too but I think I now understand the discrepancy. In crashes involving big trucks and 4 wheelers the 4 wheeler is at fault most times. However, not all crashes with big trucks involve 4 wheelers.


It’s not even a month into the new year, but there’s already been a dramatic increase in the number of deadly crashes on OPP-patrolled highways.

So far this year, police say 29 people have lost their lives in crashes on Ontario highways — an increase of 123 per cent compared to this time last year.

Six of the 29 fatalities involved big trucks, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said on Periscope on Tuesday night. He said that represents 10 per cent of the collisions they have investigated this year.

As of Jan. 22, they have investigated 4,294 crashes and 10 per cent of them involved a commercial vehicle, Schmidt added.

Last year, about 75 of the fatal car crashes involved transport trucks.
Fatal crashes on Ontario roads up 123% this time last year: OPP

Schmidt also said that in collisions involving trucks this year and last year, the truck driver was at fault around 65 per cent of the time. Some of truck crashes may have only involved a single vehicle.

 

Here's another crash where the truck driver is at fault. smh


Man charged in transport - house collision - BayToday.ca

 

Going a tad too fast I would say. Not a big fan of that corner but that building is far enough past the corner that speed and not just slippery roads had to be a big factor.

Surprised he didn't take out the telephone pole.

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