The traffic safety focus for the month of June is Commercial Vehicle Safety.

Commercial vehicles play an important role in moving goods around the province and across its borders. These vehicles are larger and heavier than passenger vehicles, so other drivers and road users should exercise caution and patience when sharing the road with them. Commercial vehicles have large blind spots, take longer to stop than smaller vehicles, and require a wide turning radius. Make sure to give them plenty of room on the road.

Facts about commercial vehicles:

• In 2021, truck-tractors made up 2.0 per cent of the total vehicles involved in casualty collisions, but 10.0 per cent of the vehicles in fatal collisions.
• 57.0 per cent of drivers of other vehicles involved in fatal collisions with truck tractors and 38.3 per cent in injury collisions committed a driving error. The most common errors of these drivers were following too closely, violating a stop sign, and being left of centre (2017 - 2021).
• The most common driving errors on the part of the truck tractor driver in casualty collisions were running off the road and following too closely (2017 - 2021).
• Truck-tractor drivers are more likely than other drivers in casualty collisions to be fatigued or asleep at the time of the collision (2017 - 2021).
• In 2023, Sheriff Highway Patrol completed 11,953 commercial vehicle and/or driver inspections.

For more information contact:

Sgt. Stacey Fishley
Traffic Unit
Medicine Hat Police Service
Ph: 403-529-8471