Trucks can be made safer for cyclists, study shows

It’s a debate that’s gone on for years: Should truck drivers be forced to install side guards to help prevent pedestrians and cyclists from being crushed under their rear wheels?

To families and friends of the victims, it’s a life-saving measure, a position reinforced after the tragic death of a cyclist in Toronto last week. But the trucking industry and the federal transportation regulator argue the evidence of the side-guard’s effectiveness isn’t clear.

The debate moves to Ottawa on Monday when opposition MP Olivia Chow will press the government to make the protection mandatory on trucks across the country.

A report from 2010, commissioned by Transport Canada and made available to The Globe and Mail, shows that since the introduction of guards on the side of most trucks in Europe in the late 1980s, the number of cyclists and pedestrians killed or seriously wounded in crashes with large vehicles has dropped.

However, the National Research Council Canada, which produced the study, found it unclear whether the safety measure was entirely responsible for the decrease in deaths and injuries, or one of several factors. Transport Canada spokeswoman Melanie Quesnel said in an e-mail that her department would be open to examining the issue further “should any valid information become available in the future to support the use of side guards as a significant means to improve safety.”

That’s not going down well with friends and relatives of people who might have been helped, if not saved, by these protective guards.

“The truck that was involved in Toronto’s incident [last] week would have cost $800 for a side guard,” said Jeannette Holman-Price, whose 21-year-old daughter was crushed by a snow-removal truck in Montreal six years ago.

“Do you think that company wouldn’t have wished that they had that side guard in place? Do you think that driver wouldn’t have wished to have had that in place?

“Eight hundred dollars to save that woman’s life.”

The Canadian study cited a British probe that zeroed in on crashes involving the sides of trucks. A substantial reduction in cyclist deaths (61 per cent) and serious injuries (13 per cent) occurred 10 years after side guards were introduced.

Still, the government research agency cautioned side guards are only part of the solution and an uncertain one at that. “It is not clear if side guards will reduce deaths and serious injury or if the guards will simply alter the mode of death and seriously injury,” it concluded.

Several of Jenna Morrison’s friends believe safety guards might have saved her life.

The 38-year-old yoga instructor was five months pregnant, and on her way to pick up her five-year-old son from school, when her bike collided with a truck turning right on a major Toronto street last Monday. She was pulled under the truck and crushed beneath its back wheels.

Toronto police are investigating the circumstances of the crash to determine whether charges should be laid.

At a downtown Toronto intersection Monday, bike riders will gather to ride in honour of Ms. Morrison. The cyclists will pedal to the intersection where she died and stop for a moment of silence.

Later in the day in Ottawa, Ms. Chow will reintroduce a private member’s bill urging the federal government to make side guards mandatory on most trucks in the country. This is the NDP MP’s third try at changing the regulation.

From 2004 to 2006, 77 pedestrians and 24 cyclists died nationwide as a result of collisions with heavy vehicles in urban areas, government statistics show. Another 1,410 people were injured.

Estimates on the cost of side guards range from $600 to $2,600, depending on the type of truck and guard. In some cases, the cost could be recovered through improved fuel efficiency, the National Research Council study said.