New Road Safety Campaign Launched

Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:10 AM

Less than a week following a fatal crash between an ATV and a logging truck in the Prince George area, the BC Forest Safety Council TruckSafe Program has launched a special public awareness campaign.

“We are seeing a rise in collisions resulting in serious injuries and fatalities as we are heading into the winter hauling season,” says MaryAnne Arcand, Forestry TruckSafe director. “It’s going to be really busy on highways and resource roads, and all drivers need to know what they are facing."

Highways and resource roads are extremely busy through the Prince George region as mountain pine beetle harvesting continues. There has also been a surge in mining exploration in this region, while in the north east there is increased oil and gas activity.

All that activity is stepping up at a time when hunters are heading into the bush. The collision last week claimed the lives of two men from the lower mainland who were in the Blackwater area on a hunting trip.

The campaign won’t be putting all the focus on the big rig drivers says Arcand "“Statistics show that 84 percent of the time, the private motorists involved in collisions with logging trucks are at fault, reinforcing the need for the safety campaign aimed at all road users.”

Some of the messages are meant to remind the gereal public abaout the simple things, like the space a long truck needs to make a turn, visibility ( if you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you) stopping times, passing when its safe and to "expect the unexpected".

As part of its ongoing campaign, TruckSafe introduced a toll free hotline last February so people could report incidents of unsafe driving practices. That line has received more than 300 calls.

The hotline number is 1-877-324-1212.

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:10 AM in News by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: owl on October 26 2006 10:49 PM

"Statistics show that 84 percent of the time, the private motorists involved in collisions with logging trucks are at fault."

As amost people around here would know, one of the most dangerous situations is driving blind. I was reminded of that a few months ago when I had to drive the Willow Cale road and in a sedan in dry conditions. Any trucks coming in the opposite direction created a dust blackout for 15 to 30 seconds. Keep going, and one is driving blind. Stop, and anyone behind you will likely rear end you. Pull over on the shoulder ... what shoulder? So, private vehicles driving on such roads should also be carrying radios and know how to use them.

Engineer - design and maintain roads properly. I bet that is a factor more often than reports will say.

Educate - even professionals working in the forests often do not know how to drive properly for the conditions.

Enforce - last resort, but if need be, get people and/or technology so that the good practices can be enforced if not done voluntarily. We have seat belts, motorcycle and ATV helmets, even bicycle helmet laws.