Olivia Chow, MP

Truck Sideguards: Grassroots Support on the Rise

Volunteers Across the Country Continue to Collect Petitions Urging for the Life-Saving Measure

June 13, 2012

OTTAWA - Truck sideguards save lives – virtually every day in places Europe and Japan. Canada is lagging behind, but more and more citizens are joining the call for mandatory sideguards.

Olivia continues to present petitions in Parliament – a sign of the growing support. Please visit the website of the allied grassroots group SafeTrucks that is pushing for truck sideguards in Canada. If you haven’t signed the petition yet, you can download it here.

Transcript:

Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, my second petition is from cyclists and pedestrians who are very concerned about very large trucks in big cities.

The petitioners are concerned that Canada does not have a requirement that trucks provide side guards for large trucks and trailers, because the coroner, in 1998, looking into the death of a Toronto cyclist found that large vehicles were involved in 37% of collisions resulting in cyclist fatalities.

Therefore, the petitions recommend that Transport Canada look into the feasibility of mandating large trucks to have side guards.