A national safety group said today that the Federal and Ontario Governments should require that big trucks be equipped with black box recorders in order to properly investigate the epidemic of big truck crashes on the 401 and better enforce safety rules on big rigs. Canadians for Responsible and Safe Highways was responding to yet another fiery crash on the 401 near Ingersoll last night, this time reportedly involving four transport trucks.
News reports indicate one driver is dead.
This follows several other crashes involving big trucks. Evans said that an expert panel report funded by Transport Canada one year ago recommended that these devices be required on big trucks so that enforcement officers could crack down on the reported substantial violation of safety rules such as hours of work. Evans said that the Transport Canada expert panel report also recommended against increasing allowable truck driver hours of work beyond the current average 60 hours per week.