Bill Kelly: Ontario has a trucking problem; how do we fix it?

This week’s horrific crash on Highway 400 is a stark reminder that we have a trucking problem on Ontario highways and we don’t seem to know how to fix it.

The fatal 14-vehicle crash killed at least three people; the highway remained closed for a day while police combed through the scorched  mess of twisted metal looking for other victims.

In a  chilling case of foreshadowing, just days before the crash, OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes spoke about the alarming number of fatal collisions caused by inattentive truck drivers.

This year alone, there have been more than 5,000 transport truck-related crashes and to date, 67 people have died and that doesn’t include the fatalities from the Highway 400 crash.

No one is suggesting that truckers were to blame in all of those crashes, but the OPP who investigate those incidents, says that distracted driving or fatigued truckers are a common theme.

The Ontario Truckers Association claims that the overwhelming majority of truckers are properly trained and do play by the rules of the road, and statistics certainly bear that out.

But the tragic crash on Highway 400 should be a clarion call to the trucking industry and the OPP to step up efforts to identify and shut down the bad operators before more lives are lost.

Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News.