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Abstract
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This fact sheet summarizes results from The Road Safety Monitor (RSM), 2009 regarding large trucks in Canada. The RSM is an annual public opinion survey conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) currently under sponsorship from the Brewers Association of Canada, Transport Canada and the Canadian Trucking Alliance. The survey takes the pulse of the nation on key road safety issues by means of a national telephone and on-line survey of a random, representative sample of Canadian drivers.
For the purpose of this survey, large trucks have been defined as any truck with a gross vehicle weight over 4,500 kg. This includes trucks of various weights and dimensions such as tractor-trailers commonly used
in highway transport, but also smaller commercial trucks such as straight trucks, typically used for smaller deliveries over shorter distances. Note that a class 1 or class A commercial driver's licence is required to operate a tractor-trailer, whereas straight trucks in most Canadian jurisdictions do not require a commercial driver's licence (with the exception of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, where a class 3 or D licence is required). Questions about pick-up trucks, busses or vans were not included in this survey.
The questionnaire for this study was administered to a random sample of 1,200 Canadian drivers of passenger cars. Among these 1,200 drivers of passenger cars, 67 drivers reported also driving a large truck. These drivers of large trucks provided information regarding their own behaviour when driving their truck. This information is described early on in this fact sheet to help explain the perceptions and opinions of Canadian passenger car drivers about large trucks.
The number of fatal collisions has not changed that much between 2000 and 2006 suggesting a plateau has been reached. On the other hand, the number of injury crashes involving large trucks substantially increased between 2001 and 2005 from 7,802 to 9,366. In 2006 the number decreased to 9,066. More annual data are needed to confirm whether this decrease in 2006 will continue in future years to come.
Of considerable interest, when breaking down these results into two categories, one for tractor-trailers
and one for other large trucks, the trends are as follows. Fatal crashes involving tractor-trailers have slightly decreased from 322 in 2000 to 292 in 2006, while fatal crashes among other large trucks have increased gradually from 132 in 2000 to 180 in 2006. The number of injury crashes involving tractor-trailers seems to have reached a plateau throughout this tracking period (from 3,862 in 2000 up to 4,101 in 2005 and then down to 3,821 in 2006) while there appears to have been a rather large increase in injury crashes for other large trucks (from 4,087 in 2000 to 5,100 in 2006). In other words, while the overall results do not show considerable progress, tractor-trailers may be performing somewhat better in terms of fatal crashes. The main problem centers around the lack of a decrease in the level of injury crashes involving tractor-trailers, and especially increases both in fatal and injury crashes involving other large trucks.
How many drivers of large trucks were involved in crashes? Drivers of large trucks were asked how many times they had been involved in a crash in the past year and how many times they had come close to being involved in a crash in the past year. About one quarter of all drivers of large trucks answered they had been involved in a crash in the past year. However, 62% (95%-CI: 46.2%-75.1%) reported having been involved in a near-miss in the past year. While the majority of these drivers answered they had been involved in a near-miss only once in the past year, 20 drivers answered more than once. Of considerable importance, these results only pertain to having been involved in a crash or a near-miss; they do not reveal anything about whether the driver of the large truck was at fault or not.
Who do canadians think is more often at fault in crashes with large trucks? All 1,200 respondents were asked who they think is more often at fault in collisions between a passenger vehicle and a large truck, the driver of the passenger vehicle or the driver of the large truck. The majority answered the driver of the passenger vehicle (73.4%; 95%-CI: 70.0%-76.6%). Crash studies show that, overall the at- fault involvement rate for truck drivers may not be that different from the rate for passenger car drivers. However, there is evidence showing that in fatal collisions with a passenger vehicle and a large truck the driver of the passenger vehicle is more often at fault. As such, it appears the public's perception about fault is somewhat congruent with the evidence. |