When it comes to road safety in Canada, size matters. Canada is the second largest country in the world with a land mass of 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,103 mi2) and a population of 35.1 million people in 2013; its road network spans almost 900,000 kilometers (km). In a country this large, the transportation of goods is essential to Canadians, and trucking is a $65 billion industry that brings significant economic benefits. According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, it is estimated that more than 90% of all consumer products and perishables are shipped by truck, and data from Transport Canada reveal that the number of large trucks on our roads has grown in the past decade from 740,000 registered large trucks in 2003 to 1,072,000 trucks in 2013. This means that large trucks are increasingly present on our roads along with other types of vehicles including fleet vehicles, service vehicles, passenger vehicles ranging from large SUVs to smaller compact cars, and also motorcycles that represent the most vulnerable group of drivers. To place the issue of large trucks and road safety in context, this Bulletin provides a summary of some of the latest research about this topic and describes the involvement of large trucks in road crashes, as well as the characteristics of crashes involving large trucks. It also highlights some of the most topical issues of fatigue and distraction and their implications for large truck safety. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting