Compared to a car, a large truck takes longer to stop, is more likely to rollover, and is slower to accelerate. Pavement markings to indicate safe passing zones and intersections do not always allow for the presence of large trucks. It is also important to understand truck regulation policies in Alberta. Alberta allows the longest driving hours for truckers in Canada, and it allows extra long multi-trailer trucks on main roads. Trucking companies there can require their drivers to work up to 105 hours a week, equivalent to 2.5 regular jobs.
Tired drivers operating longer, heavier and more complex trucks can be deadly.
This program allows some companies to regulate many of their own safety issues, for example by exempting them from certain roadside inspections or filing insurance documents. B.C. It is time to put this type of safety deregulation on hold until some better research explores why Alberta has so many truck crash deaths per capita compared to other provinces. Until we start to understand why crashes are happening, there is no scientific basis to deregulate truck safety. A good start would be to mandate the Federal Transportation Safety Board to investigate big truck crashes as it does for all other freight modes in Canada. Whereas the current system for trucks seems interested in assigning blame for insurance purposes, the Transportation Safety Board would add a new dimension.