With funding from personal donations and in collaboration with project sponsors, TIRF is working to increase large truck safety on the roads working with trucking associations, fleets, employers, and licensing authorities. Below are related publications and projects. Please contact us if you’re looking for a specific resource, research or other information.

Addressing the Driver Hiring Shortage: A Trucking Industry Blueprint

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF), with financial support provided by the Canadian Trucking Alliance, undertook a national consultation with approximately 20 organizations representing the trucking industry, licensing authorities, driver training schools, insurers, Federal authorities, and non-profit entities. The consultation explored the driver hiring shortage, contributing factors, current initiatives, and strategies to address remaining gaps. More information on this project here.

Download the report:

• Addressing the Driver Hiring Shortage: A Trucking Industry Blueprint
• Remédier à la pénurie de camionneurs et de camionneuses : plan d’action pour le secteur du camionnage

Vehicle Size Matters – Sharing the Road with Large Trucks

Large trucks have become a constant presence on our roadways. More than 90% of all consumer products and perishables are shipped by truck in Canada. We rely on the trucking industry to bring the large majority of goods and services we use every day to stores in our community or directly to our door. As a result, the number of registered trucks in Canada has increased in the past decade from 1,072,000 in 2013 to 1,310,000 in 2021.

TIRF’s #MySafeRoadHome blog, Vehicle Size Matters: Staying focused when sharing the road with large trucks, shares the top three strategies to drive safely around large trucks and includes a downloadable infographic.

Access the blog, resources & infographic here: tirf.ca/blog/sharing-road-large-trucks

The Effect of Fuel-efficient Driving on Collision Risk

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) has released Quantifying the Benefits of Eco-Driving for Transportation Employers, reporting the results from a 2022 study conducted with funding from Natural Resources Canada. The study explored whether adopting an eco-driving style reduces crash risk and leads to savings in the operational costs of transportation companies. The full press release and related downloadable technical report and fact sheet are available in English & French.

Learn more and access the report and fact sheet on the project page: tirf.ca/projects/fuel-efficient-driving-collision-risk

Canadian Coalition on Distracted Driving (CCDD) Business Case & Tools

The report titled Distracted Driving & Workplace Safety Policies: A Business Case for Employers describes the costs of prevention programs and compares them to collision costs. It illustrates the value of integrating distracted driving policies into workplace safety programs and reinforcing them in day-to-day safety practices. Tools are included to help employers estimate the costs to their business and quantify the value of distracted driving safety policies which can protect staff and improve safety in the communities where they live and work.

The Distracted Driving & Workplace Safety Form and Distracted Driving & Workplace Safety Checklist are additional workplace safety tools produced by the CCDD. Over the past five years, CCDD members and stakeholders representing education, enforcement, academia, government, health and industry sectors, including insurance, automotive and trucking industries, have collaborated to increase safety for businesses and communities. These resources provide employers with free, real-world tools to support distracted driving workplace safety policies.

Learn more about this initiative and access the business case, tools and additional resources through the Distracted Driving in Canada: Making Progress, Taking Action project page: tirf.ca/projects/distracted-driving-canada-making-progress-taking-action

Large Trucks and Road Safety: A Question of Size

TIRF published a state of knowledge related to large trucks and road crashes in response to many information requests about this topic. To place the issue of large trucks and road safety in context, this Bulletin summarizes the latest research and describes the involvement of large trucks in road crashes, as well as the characteristics of crashes involving large trucks. It also highlights the topical issues of fatigue and distraction and their implications for large truck safety. Improvements and standardization in driver training are important tools that can help governments and the trucking industry increase the safety of large truck drivers and other road users, and achieve further declines in crashes. This publication was made possible through charitable donations. Other donor-funded publications have focused on distracted driving, teen drivers, older drivers and knowledge transfer.

TIRF’s Drop It And Drive® workplace safety workshops

Managing Distractions: Truck Driver Workshop

There are unique considerations for professional truck drivers as distraction behind the wheel and other distracted drivers on the road equally pose considerable risk to drivers of heavy trucks. The larger size and mass of these vehicles makes the handling and control of them vastly different from that of passenger vehicles. This seminar can prepare professional drivers to limit and manage distractions in their vehicle as well as respond to other distracted drivers on the road.

In operation since 2010, DIAD delivers corporate seminars customized to your work environment, workforce & operational practices. Participants are provided with practical strategies and tools to minimize distractions behind the wheel. Employers are provided with practical tools to engage employees through education, best practices, and prevention strategies to reduce distraction. Learn more: tirf.ca/diad/services/distracted-driving-corporate-training