DIGGING IN

By Dave Nesseth
Guarded
Approach
Canadian municipalities are calling for truck side guards
to protect cyclists. Maybe the issue is more complex.
A new British Public Service
Announcement shows a
piano falling from the sky to
the sidewalk, boxers about
to collide, and a birthday girl
ready to clobber a piñata. But
the last image of the TV spot
is a cyclist losing his life after
being struck by a dump truck
at an intersection.
In a bid to protect cyclists,
London, England has gone so
far as to ban certain heavy-duty
trucks deemed unsafe
for metropolitan streets. In
Canada, reports of truck and
bike collisions tend to be met
with a lot of finger pointing.
Drivers blame cyclists. Cyclists
blame drivers.
“The seemingly difficult
decision about who to share
the road with, and how, deals
with who the streets are for
in the first place,” says Dr.
David Roberts, a University of
Toronto assistant professor
of urban studies. “The other
part of the equation is that
there is just not enough space
to share. Whether then we get
to compromise, it gets boiled
down to who really belongs.
Right now it’s about who
backs down first. It’s a waiting
game, and there hasn’t been
significant political leadership
on either side.”
The U.S. Department of
Transportation shows that
half of all cyclists killed by a
truck first impact the blind
side of the vehicle, as collisions
typically occur when the two
parties make right-hand turns
at an intersection. Of course,
the issue goes much deeper
than that, and involves more
than just heavy trucks. Recent
Toronto Police statistics show
that 541 cyclists have been hit
by cars since June 2016. That’s
nearly 10 collisions per day.
After recent cyclist
versus truck deaths in both
Ottawa and Montreal, plus
written pleas from both
the Federation of Canadian
Municipalities and Ottawa’s
mayor, Canada’s federal government
is once again studying
side guards that fill the
gaps in a truck’s wheelbase. A
new task force created by the
Canadian Council of Motor
Transport Administrators
will not only reopen the book
on old-school side guards,
but also study new-school
technology like cameras and
collision mitigation sensors
that may help prevent cyclist
versus truck interactions in
the first place.
“Transport Canada believes
there is a potential to save
more lives if efforts are focused
on improving the ability of
large commercial vehicle
drivers to detect vulnerable
road users around their vehicles,”
says Transport Canada
spokesman Daniel Savoie.
“Emerging technologies, such
as camera and sensor systems,
have the potential to improve
safety for not only cyclists
and pedestrians, but also for
other motorized vehicles.
To this end, the department
has initiated a research program
to investigate collision
avoidance technologies with
the aim to help drivers of large
commercial vehicles detect
vulnerable road users and
prevent impacts.”
To critics like Greater
Ottawa Truckers Association
general manager Ron Barr,
Canada is coming at the
problem of dangerous intersections
from completely
the wrong angle. Barr says
trucks can be equipped with
technology, sideguards, even
be “wrapped in cellophane”,
but it won’t stop what he calls
the reckless actions of many
cyclists on city streets. Barr,
for one, is calling on Canada’s
cities to register cyclists, like
he registers his trucks – an
idea floated and shut down
just last month by Toronto’s
10 TODAY’S TRUCKING