OPP doing tractor-trailer ride along to catch distracted drivers

Officers with theOntario Provincial Police (OPP) are going to be using a new technique to help them catch distracted driversthrough a newenforcement blitzinitiative calledOperation Safe Trucking.

The initiative is part ofthe OPP's Commercial Motor Vehicle MitigationStrategy and will target transport truck and passenger vehicle drivers across the province.

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Officers will be riding intwo OPP transport trucks during the five-day blitzto give them a better vantage point to spot distracted,impairedand aggressivedrivers.

Officers will also be on the lookout for speedersand for vehicles following too closely.

"We are not going to be pulling themover in the truck," OPP Sgt. Kerry SchmidttoldCBCNews.

"We have other cars that are in the area and as soon as we see a violator, we will call them up and they will make themselves available, in position within seconds to conduct a traffic stop."

6,200 collisions in 2017

So far this year, the OPP has responded to over 6,200 collisions that involve transport trucks, resulting in 87 fatalities.

"Driver inattention is just one of the number of primary causes and factors of transport truck collisions on OPP controlled roads," saidBrad Blair,OPP deputy commissioner.

"Regardless of what the causes or factors are, our OPP data tells us that the driver of the transport truck is at fault in 65 per cent of the 6,200 collisions," said Blair.

Schmidtsaidthe OPP transport trucks will be in theGTAand surrounding areathis week.

"Everydetachmentwillbedoing something in their own respective area," he said."We'll evaluate how the program was working and howefficientit was and obviously we'll hopefully continue this process across the province as we move forward," he said.

In addition totransport trucks, OPP officers willcontinue to dostandard truck and vehicleinspections as well as use air patrol to spot offending drivers.