Fatal crashes on Ontario roads up 123% this time last year: OPP
Posted January 24, 2018 5:49 am.
Last Updated January 24, 2018 8:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s not even a month into the new year, but there’s already been a dramatic increase in the number of deadly crashes on OPP-patrolled highways.
So far this year, police say 29 people have lost their lives in crashes on Ontario highways — an increase of 123 per cent compared to this time last year.
Six of the 29 fatalities involved big trucks, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said on Periscope on Tuesday night. He said that represents 10 per cent of the collisions they have investigated this year.
As of Jan. 22, they have investigated 4,294 crashes and 10 per cent of them involved a commercial vehicle, Schmidt added.
Last year, about 75 of the fatal car crashes involved transport trucks.
Schmidt also said that in collisions involving trucks this year and last year, the truck driver was at fault around 65 per cent of the time. Some of truck crashes may have only involved a single vehicle.
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