OPP officers will be out with their radar guns and ticket books on highways 17, 69, 124 and 144 in the Parry Sound area over the next 2 days, looking for transport drivers driving unsafely.
Police say across Ontario there have been too many collisions involving commercial vehicles lately, and six have been fatal crashes.
“We are going to heighten our enforcement over the next couple of days, and we are going to make sure that the commercial motor vehicle drivers get the message that they need to pay attention.” said Constable Andre Taschereau.
Andy Marinoff has been driving a transport for 10 years and says distracted driving is an epidemic among all drivers, not just truckers.
“I am up high, I can look down, and I see everybody has got their cell phones in their laps. They are texting, they are playing on Facebook, playing on whatever, and it just boggles the mind how many people are playing with their cell phones.” said Marinoff.
The Ministry of Transportation will also be part of the blitz, inspecting vehicles and drivers’ paperwork, and Marinoff says he doesn't mind if he's stopped as part of the initiative.
“It's definitely a good thing. It has to be in place, I mean, that's how we keep all these vehicles fit for everybody to be safe out there, you know. I think it's a necessary thing.” he says.
Constable Taschereau says the northeast region is a busy transportation route for trucking companies to move goods across Canada, so there are a lot of transports on the road.
“They are driving much bigger vehicles; there is a lot of weight involved, and stopping distances increase. Therefore, we want them to be aware that they need to pay attention to what they are doing 100 percent of the time when they are behind the wheel.” said Taschereau.
Officers say so far this year, 17 percent of all collisions on OPP-patrolled roads in the northeast region have involved commercial motor vehicles.
