OPP adding 'a different twist' to crackdown on distracted driving in transport trucks

Ontario Provincial Police have kicked off a province-wide blitz aimed at distracted driving by operators of transport trucks and other commercial vehicles.

Known as Operation Safe Trucking, the initiative is "designed to stop distracted driving in commercial motor vehicles ... [which] has resulted in a number of fatalities," said Richard Cunningham, an acting sergeant with the OPP in northwestern Ontario.

Provincial police statistics showed that from Jan. 1 to Dec. 8, 2017, 87 people were killed in 72 collisions involving transports on OPP-patrolled roads and highways. Cunningham said officers will be conducting patrols in OPP-owned transport trucks across the province from Dec. 11-15 in order to give them a better vantage point for spotting distracted commercial truck drivers.

"We're taking the initiative and putting a different twist on it this year, in an attempt to raise awareness more effectively," Cunningham said. "When they locate a distracted driver, they have a cruiser that's in the area, dispatched to that vehicle."

The initiative is about raising awareness, he said. "Hopefully, knowing that this is going on will stop them from using their cell phones or becoming distracted in any other way."

Blitz may look a bit different in the northwest

With many of the highways in northwestern Ontario being only two lanes, Cunningham said the initiative, using transport trucks to spot distracted drivers, is going to be more difficult to roll out "the way that they are doing it down east on the 401, where there's multiple lanes of traffic in the same direction."

"If the conditions are right and safe for us to do that, we will be doing it," he said.

Cunningham added that it won't stop officers in the region from conducting the blitz this week but it may need to be adjusted to make it work.

"We have other unmarked vehicles that wouldn't be easily recognized as a police vehicle," Cunningham said, but "the goal isn't to ticket people, the goal is to raise awareness to ensure that people are not driving distracted."

He said with the holiday season in full swing, every driver should also be aware that operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol is not acceptable.

"At this time we are also doing the festive RIDE campaign ... but we will be focusing on safety and security of our roads in Ontario throughout the entire year," Cunningham said.