Letters to the Editor

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

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Steady on the road

Posted: 08/15/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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Truck passes Ontario Provincial Police officer in 2004 picture.

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While I commend John Kennedy of Dryden, Ont., for his 33-year career as a police officer, I also take issue with his Aug. 11 letter, Consider the differences, regarding the "devastation" caused by trucks on the highway.

I'm sure he has seen more than his share of stupidity and the resulting accidents. However, unless he has spent time driving a big rig, he can express an opinion only from a car driver's point of view. I am a professional truck driver with over 15 years and more than three million kilometres of accident-free driving in North America. I have driven the Trans-Canada in Ontario frequently and I, too, am afraid to drive on that road, but for different reasons.

Any professional truck driver will tell you about the number of times he or she has taken drastic, evasive action to prevent a potentially fatal accident because someone was in a hurry, didn't see, didn't realize or (insert excuse here).

Accident statistics show that the vast majority of accidents involving a large truck were not caused by the truck. As a police officer, Kennedy knows this, but as is so often the case in incidents involving a large truck, facts get in the way of a good headline.

FRED BARNETT

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 15, 2012 A11

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