Plenty of East Region presence in OPP trucking safety blitz

Provincial police launched a five-day safety blitz cracking down on unsafe transport trucks travelling on highways on Monday.

This comes just days after the Transport Minister promised new winter safety measures here in Kingston.

‘Operation Safe Trucking’ will target a number of violations including distracted, aggressive and impaired driving, speeding as well as following too closely.

“The data isn’t always enough to tell you that there isn’t an issue.  The bottom line is that people are still dying,” said Joe Baptista, the mayor of Leeds and The Thousand Islands whose municipality borders the 401 corridor.

Baptista recalls last winter’s fatal crash near Mallorytown in Eastern Ontario that involved dozens of vehicles and a toxic chemical spill from a transport truck.

On provincial highways so far this year, 291 people have died.

“I don’t think the truckers should feel targeted one bit. If you’re doing something wrong, so be it, hopefully, they catch you,” said Joe Miller, a truck driver from Joyceville who supports the initiative.

In addition to the highway safety blitz, both car and truck drivers will have something else to keep in mind as the first major snowfall of season arrives Tuesday.