Interesting stats but they're only covering the resulting deaths, and only those recorded as related to the particular vehicles.
The real stats will be in the rise of rolled trucks, trucks hitting bridges, trucks going the wrong way on the road, trucks grossly overloaded, trucks grossly compromised with multiple safety factors - like
missing tires, broken hinge bolts, drivers wearing flipflops or driving barefooted, drivers grossly over safe driving time limits, broken axels, open trailer doors, unsecured loads, trucks wobbling between lanes eventually either causing or being the accident scene...
I could go on and I'm sure countless people could supply more data.
Because it is data - it's just not recorded.
And the major data NEVER recorded is the race of the driver.
Something so conveniently rejected as to boggle the mind of any sane person handing out licenses.
And I will counter again with a further missing factor: those stats likely represent re-enactments to discern the story, submitted dash-cam evidence (both truck and witness cams), and required reporting by company/owners.
I realize this is moving into the old 'that's only anecdotal evidence' dismissal of lived experience.
Personally, anecdotal records are equally valid to the man on the street but I know they're not recognized as legitimate.
If we could somehow gather enough anecdotal evidence (verified social media reports, archived newspaper reports, etc.) it could move the needle. But that would require a lot of work.
Or maybe a fb page would capture a response...and tiktok certainly has the video anecdotes!
😜😹
Might bear contemplating - and I'd hazard a guess if you reached out, there would be a person or two who might be wiling to provide the logistics of gathering said anecdotal reports..
Ya never know.
But as a driver on the road
I guaran-bleep-tee you, there are substantially more dangerous drivers (and not just trucks!, but we're talking trucks here) on our roads here in Canada.
I get that you have to use the data at hand, but fatalities maybe aren't necessarily the best metric. Passenger vehicles are simply safer than they used to be, for a few key reasons: universal adoption of life-saving technology like airbags; seatbelt usage is almost universal; and increased mass. On the latter, the average passenger vehicle is 200 kgs heavier than those of 25 years ago, and much of that added mass helps strengthen the frame and body "cage" that shields us from things like an 18 wheeler trying to share the front seat.
That said, as usual thanks for proving that anecdotes aren't data.
That's definitely true. Fatalities are only one part of the equation. And not only are cars more protective in the event of a collision, but many of them now have sensor-driven software that'll take over to prevent collisions altogether.
All the same, if there really were so many more unsafe truckers on the road - besides the rising population and congestion - we wouldn't likely be seeing such significant *decreases* in deaths.
Yes. This sounds all very reasonable. Certainly crashes are news; but non-crashes are not; so just paying attention to news reports is likely to skew one's perception.
Interesting stats but they're only covering the resulting deaths, and only those recorded as related to the particular vehicles.
The real stats will be in the rise of rolled trucks, trucks hitting bridges, trucks going the wrong way on the road, trucks grossly overloaded, trucks grossly compromised with multiple safety factors - like
missing tires, broken hinge bolts, drivers wearing flipflops or driving barefooted, drivers grossly over safe driving time limits, broken axels, open trailer doors, unsecured loads, trucks wobbling between lanes eventually either causing or being the accident scene...
I could go on and I'm sure countless people could supply more data.
Because it is data - it's just not recorded.
And the major data NEVER recorded is the race of the driver.
Something so conveniently rejected as to boggle the mind of any sane person handing out licenses.
The deaths are only one part of the stats.
That's a good point. Although I can't be sure how accurate Transport Canada data is, this chart (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NjxETKbEYU7qUpYUhZ9bK25GbZv9uyIr/view?usp=sharing) represents the numbers tracking "truck tractors" final maneuver before involvement in a collision. They also seem to be dropping over time.
Good point, also.
And I will counter again with a further missing factor: those stats likely represent re-enactments to discern the story, submitted dash-cam evidence (both truck and witness cams), and required reporting by company/owners.
I realize this is moving into the old 'that's only anecdotal evidence' dismissal of lived experience.
Personally, anecdotal records are equally valid to the man on the street but I know they're not recognized as legitimate.
If we could somehow gather enough anecdotal evidence (verified social media reports, archived newspaper reports, etc.) it could move the needle. But that would require a lot of work.
Maybe.
Or maybe a fb page would capture a response...and tiktok certainly has the video anecdotes!
😜😹
Might bear contemplating - and I'd hazard a guess if you reached out, there would be a person or two who might be wiling to provide the logistics of gathering said anecdotal reports..
Ya never know.
But as a driver on the road
I guaran-bleep-tee you, there are substantially more dangerous drivers (and not just trucks!, but we're talking trucks here) on our roads here in Canada.
I get that you have to use the data at hand, but fatalities maybe aren't necessarily the best metric. Passenger vehicles are simply safer than they used to be, for a few key reasons: universal adoption of life-saving technology like airbags; seatbelt usage is almost universal; and increased mass. On the latter, the average passenger vehicle is 200 kgs heavier than those of 25 years ago, and much of that added mass helps strengthen the frame and body "cage" that shields us from things like an 18 wheeler trying to share the front seat.
That said, as usual thanks for proving that anecdotes aren't data.
That's definitely true. Fatalities are only one part of the equation. And not only are cars more protective in the event of a collision, but many of them now have sensor-driven software that'll take over to prevent collisions altogether.
All the same, if there really were so many more unsafe truckers on the road - besides the rising population and congestion - we wouldn't likely be seeing such significant *decreases* in deaths.
Yes. This sounds all very reasonable. Certainly crashes are news; but non-crashes are not; so just paying attention to news reports is likely to skew one's perception.