Saint-Laurent is hoping to make pedestrians and cyclists safer nation-wide, after a resolution was passed asking the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to take steps with Transport Canada toward heavy vehicle safety regulation at council on Tuesday night.
After the death of Jessica Holman-Price, who lost her life in a snow removal truck accident in Westmount in 2005, the Jessica Campaign pushed for safety regulation on heavy vehicles.
That inspired a personal mission for Saint-Laurent Mayor Alan DeSousa to move for heavy vehicle safety not only at home, but across Canada. “I want to make sure no life is lost if we can prevent it,” he said.
In May, Mayor DeSousa also reached out to Federal Transport Minister, Marc Garneau, who has held the Westmount riding since 2008. DeSousa hopes that the Liberal government can lead to new regulation, but in the meantime a grass roots approach seems to be working.
In 2013, the City of Montreal passed a resolution for Federal legislation and also asked that boroughs enforce heavy vehicle safety measures in the next five years.
According to the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), the number of fatalities in accidents involving at least one heavy vehicle decreased by 29 per cent, from 120 in 2008 to 85 in 2013.
Saint-Laurent was the first borough to equip their fleet of heavy vehicles with side guards—bars that prevent a pedestrian or cyclist from falling under a heavy vehicle—in 2012.
National Impact
Saint-Laurent’s sister-city, Lethbridge, Alta., has started to make changes to their fleet after the Holman-Price story. Side guards that can protect pedestrians and cyclists are considered when purchasing new vehicles, and they are looking into retrofitting older trucks.
“Being public servants, not only do we have to worry about the safety of the vehicles and the employees of the City of Lethbridge, but we have to worry about the safety of the public,” said Joseph Thom, maintenance manager for fleet services.
In Halifax, Nova Scotia, Deputy Mayor Matt Whitman, who met with DeSousa last week, is pushing for heavy vehicle regulation. Whitman has been on the issue for over a year, in part due to the death of a cyclist in 2014. “I think we’ve lost five or six cyclists in the last five years and people say that [side guards] could have saved some of those lives,” said Whitman, a cyclist himself.
He hopes to see changes to the fleets in Halifax as soon as possible, and eventually province-wide.
Federal position
Transport Canada told TC Media that they have extensively assessed side guards for heavy vehicles since the early 2000s. Based on this research, the Ministry has not found sufficient evidence to introduce a regulation to make side guard installation mandatory.
Transport Canada are monitoring alternatives like collision avoidance technology. They added that “any province or territory is free to require side guards on trucks operating within their boundaries. Truck fleet managers are also free to install them voluntarily on their vehicles.”
The FCM’s board of directors is expected to consider Saint-Laurent’s resolution at their next board meeting in September.