Road Safety Discussion

Court proceedings against individuals charged with operating fake truck driving schools have been delayed again, this time to June 7th, 2023.

In Ottawa criminal court on May 24th, Justice Grant was told by counsel for three of the four accused that they were seeking a delay of three weeks because “Counsel is having trouble meeting with the clients to decide which witnesses to call.”
Upon hearing this, Crown Attorney L. Welch remarked, “This file is already pretty old.”

Northern Ontario saw such egregious accidents involving commercial trucks over the March 17th weekend, NDP member Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay-Superior North) sponsored a press conference to call upon Ontario to address persistent safety issues including road conditions and driver training.

NDP MPP John Vanthof (Timiskaming–Cochrane) opened his remarks on March 22nd by offering condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in commercial vehicle accidents on the weekend of March 17th.

The map above, released in January 2021, indicates proposed locations for Ontario’s new, expanded and refurbished rest areas for Truckers. Image: MTO Following their December 9 meeting with Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation staff, Truckers for Safer Highways’ (DFSH) Travis McDougall

This closed weigh scale in Serpent River is a typical sight in Northern Ontario: “I can drive from the Manitoba border to North Bay and never see an open scale,” says Travis McDougall of Truckers for Safer Highways, who says

Jeff Orr and Travis McDougall co-founded “Truckers for Safer Highways.” To date, their petition has received 1,281 signatures. Photo: TFSH A recent Ottawa safety blitz resulted in more than one-third of vehicles inspected being taken out of service because they did not