$165,000,000 total worksafe cost / 1015 claims = $162,562 per claim

I wonder why we have this economic catastrophe?

Now I understand that a death can be costly, and we do need to look after our injured workers, but really, WTF.

How much is a death benefit?
I have heard that a thumb is only a few thousand and a full limb is about a few thousand more.

The numbers don't add up for me. This would indicate to me that the administration of WCB is the real cost like most government operated agencies.
Meanwhile I have heard that they (WCB) challenges and impedes all claims to such an extent that it is virtually impossible to collect what is due.

Am I off base? Could someone put some real numbers to death benefit and a sample of various injury awards? I bet the WCB would not care for the citizenry to find out that the lion's share goes to administration and not to claimants.

Another level of bureaucracy.

A bunch of party faithful must have needed cosy government jobs.

Just ban trucks.

Just ban trucks?
A noble concept but hardly achievable.
I have been asking why they are not using more rail resources, especially for long hauls.

I suggest they look up a company called Spectra Inc. It's a company in Ontario that manufactures and sells a unit called Brake Safe. A visual brake stroke indicator that can be observed in the cab of the truck. At least the truckers will know when a brake or how many brakes are out of adjustment. I beleive it is now being recommended by the federal trasport dept.
http://www.spectra-ssa.com/
They also have a wheel lug lock so you can't loose a wheel anymore.
Truckers check it out...can safe you hours of down time, and of course maybe your or someone else live.

Well what are the causes for the accidents? Too much speed? Inexperienced drivers? Mechanical failures? Poorly maintainned roads? Fatigue from working too long?

I'd be interested to hear from some people in the industry on this one. I'm sure they have the best info when it comes to causes and solutions. As is often the case though, the people at the top often don't listen to the people in the know.

You missed out a key one NMG, otherwise reasonably on the mark. Mind altering drinks and drugs are a major problem as well.

The following includes all vehicles on all roads.

Contributing Factors: from 1996 – 2005 there were 22,122 Motor vehicle incidents in Northern BC the following contributing factors were noted:
Unsafe speed - 6704 incidents
Alcohol -5800 incidents
Weather - 5084 incidents
Following too closely -1981 incidents
Ignoring Traffic Control -1248 incidents
Fatigue - 1222 incidents
Illegal Drugs - 83 incidents

http://www.injuryresearch.bc.ca/admin/DocUpload/3_20081125_165721MaryAnne%20Arcand.pdf

Is this about safety for the public, or safety for the drivers, or both? As far as I can tell the BC trucking industry has a very good record with public safety... the problem is the injuries to the truckers themselves. I can think of a few contributing factors.

- Fatigue... most truckers have no idea where or when they are going to work and scheduling can often be a major factor in fatigue before the driver even starts the shift. This will always be ignored because its a significant cost issue especially in the era of log books where you want to maximize the time the driver is driving while on shift.

- Spring frost heaves... always in the same spots every year (bad road bed) and it IMO is a significant danger, as well as a significant source of back injury claims (90%+ I would think) as an aggravating factor. This should be enemy number one for the ministry of highways.

- Animal crossings... they occur with relative frequency at or near the same locations. I would like to see a small reflector on the tree line where hits have happened (possibly orange), and where deaths have resulted (possibly red)... as these start to pile up in various locations the public will have an idea where the potential for a hit is most likely to occur. Not every hit will get marked, but maybe the highway crews could make an effort to get the majority of them anyways, and deaths for sure could be marked so that they are distinguished from the crosses that are there from general accidents not involving animal hits. IMO the common factor in animal hits is trail crossings and locations that trap the animal on the road forcing a confrontation (ie step slopes right next to the road)... as would become apparent with this kind of signage.

- Turning lanes for left hand turns off the highway... these can surprise everyone but the person making the turn and IMO should be one of the highest infrastructure improvements needed in the north. Sudden stops for these are dangerous to all the trailing traffic who are unaware of the situation.

- Road markings that are visible... how can one tell who is on the right side of the road when there are no road markings... some sections of highway clearly need the thermo plastic more than others... ie west Vanderhoof.

IMO those suggestions would have the most utility, but the studies could take another ten years....

Is this about safety for the public, or safety for the drivers, or both? As far as I can tell the BC trucking industry has a very good record with public safety... the problem is the injuries to the truckers themselves. I can think of a few contributing factors.

- Fatigue... most truckers have no idea where or when they are going to work and scheduling can often be a major factor in fatigue before the driver even starts the shift. This will always be ignored because its a significant cost issue especially in the era of log books where you want to maximize the time the driver is driving while on shift.

- Spring frost heaves... always in the same spots every year (bad road bed) and it IMO is a significant danger, as well as a significant source of back injury claims (90%+ I would think) as an aggravating factor. This should be enemy number one for the ministry of highways.

- Animal crossings... they occur with relative frequency at or near the same locations. I would like to see a small reflector on the tree line where hits have happened (possibly orange), and where deaths have resulted (possibly red)... as these start to pile up in various locations the public will have an idea where the potential for a hit is most likely to occur. Not every hit will get marked, but maybe the highway crews could make an effort to get the majority of them anyways, and deaths for sure could be marked so that they are distinguished from the crosses that are there from general accidents not involving animal hits. IMO the common factor in animal hits is trail crossings and locations that trap the animal on the road forcing a confrontation (ie step slopes right next to the road)... as would become apparent with this kind of signage.

- Turning lanes for left hand turns off the highway... these can surprise everyone but the person making the turn and IMO should be one of the highest infrastructure improvements needed in the north. Sudden stops for these are dangerous to all the trailing traffic who are unaware of the situation.

- Road markings that are visible... how can one tell who is on the right side of the road when there are no road markings... some sections of highway clearly need the thermo plastic more than others... ie west Vanderhoof.

IMO those suggestions would have the most utility, but the studies could take another ten years....

Is this about safety for the public, or safety for the drivers, or both? As far as I can tell the BC trucking industry has a very good record with public safety... the problem is the injuries to the truckers themselves. I can think of a few contributing factors.

- Fatigue... most truckers have no idea where or when they are going to work and scheduling can often be a major factor in fatigue before the driver even starts the shift. This will always be ignored because its a significant cost issue especially in the era of log books where you want to maximize the time the driver is driving while on shift.

- Spring frost heaves... always in the same spots every year (bad road bed) and it IMO is a significant danger, as well as a significant source of back injury claims (90%+ I would think) as an aggravating factor. This should be enemy number one for the ministry of highways.

- Animal crossings... they occur with relative frequency at or near the same locations. I would like to see a small reflector on the tree line where hits have happened (possibly orange), and where deaths have resulted (possibly red)... as these start to pile up in various locations the public will have an idea where the potential for a hit is most likely to occur. Not every hit will get marked, but maybe the highway crews could make an effort to get the majority of them anyways, and deaths for sure could be marked so that they are distinguished from the crosses that are there from general accidents not involving animal hits. IMO the common factor in animal hits is trail crossings and locations that trap the animal on the road forcing a confrontation (ie step slopes right next to the road)... as would become apparent with this kind of signage.

- Turning lanes for left hand turns off the highway... these can surprise everyone but the person making the turn and IMO should be one of the highest infrastructure improvements needed in the north. Sudden stops for these are dangerous to all the trailing traffic who are unaware of the situation.

- Road markings that are visible... how can one tell who is on the right side of the road when there are no road markings... some sections of highway clearly need the thermo plastic more than others... ie west Vanderhoof.

IMO those suggestions would have the most utility, but the studies could take another ten years....

What I don't know how that happened... opps... anyways I was looking at the link and it turns out only 5% of accidents involving a transport truck involved another vehicle... I found that interesting.

Respect for the profession.

Similar to cooks, everyone can cook a box of macaroni therefore somehow qualifies people to think they know how to cook.

Everyone has gone to school therefore everyone is an expert in the teaching field.

Most people can drive a car, which in alot of people qualifies them to be a critic in the truck driving profession.

Unfortunatly some of these so called experts are in position to make change and in some cases do make change. Unfortunatly with little consultation with actual drivers and not nessassarily in the best interest of truck safety.

Trucksafe, WorkSafe, and many others consult mostly with large companies and with experts who wear suits to work to look for answers concerning safety.
Many of these suits are more interested in reducing thier costs rather than reducing injuries.

work days that exceed 10 hours enabled by the practice of keeping double log books. My neighbor who is trucker often brags about how he his cheque will have 140 hour from "last week". Dude, there are only 168 hours in a week. That means that he only had 28 hours of off time all week or about 4 hours a day.

gee, I wonder why 95% of incidents only involve the truck or the driver.