In a blizzard, get the big trucks off the highway
Eighteen years ago, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman was ridiculed for calling in the armed forces to clear the snow after the great blizzard of January 1999. Mel, who’s laughing now?
During last week’s snowstorm — which was nothing like the storm of 1999 — Highway 13 in Montreal was so clogged that hundreds of drivers spent more than 12 hours in their cars, stranded overnight. At the same time, the nation’s busiest road, Highway 401, was closed in both directions just a short distance from where I live, due to a multi- truck and car pileup. Further complicating matters just east of Gananoque, one tractortrailer was carrying hazardous chemicals, leading to an evacuation of nearby residents, dozens of people taken to hospital, and the closing of that section of the highway for some two days as the cleanup was attended to.
The fiasco in Montreal was so bad that senior officials in the Sûreté du Québec ( SQ) were suspended pending an investigation. The hapless SQ, desperate to find a scapegoat, then arrested a truck driver caught in the jam, charging him with whatever trumped- up nonsense they could find. It must be convenient to be a police force; not only can they blame the i nnocent for their mistakes, they can arrest them. The ministry of transport was AWOL at certain points during the overnight fiasco, confirming that in Montreal public authorities are not only incapable of competently building infrastructure but also operating safely what they do have.
Along the 401, the authorities were credited with acting quickly and competently, and motorists facing the long and tedious detours off the main highway reported being received with genuine hospitality and help from officials and ordinary residents of the surrounding small towns. All very heartwarming.
Yet the question that occurs is why the accidents occurred in the first place. Whether the response was brilliant or botched, it would surely be preferable not to have the incidents at all.
Of course accidents cannot be absolutely ruled out. But their likelihood can be minimized. So herewith a proposal: ban tractor- trailers from the main highways during major storms. It is the tractor- trailers that can be most difficult to handle in high winds and on slippery roads, to say the nothing of the danger they pose to passenger vehicles which have to deal with the prodigious amounts of slush and water they churn up, creating their own mini- whiteouts.
If the tractor-trailers were off the highways, the number of accidents would be greatly diminished. Moreover, the severity of accidents would be diminished. A single tractor- trailer that loses control and jackknifes can shut down an entire highway. Getting the massive tow trucks necessary on site in a storm further complicates the restoration of normal traffic flow. And an accident involving a tractortrailer is far more likely to create the multiple vehicles pileups that shut down the 401 last week.
The foolishness of having transport trucks out in the storm was made doubly evident with the chemical spill on the 401. What madness considers it prudent to send out hazardous materials in a snowstorm? A moderately intelligent child would know better than to carry something dangerous or fragile up or down slippery steps in a storm. So why is a transport carrying dangerous chemicals on the road?
Wolfe Island, where I live, borders New York State, so as the storm blew in the weather and road updates came in too on the American radio stations. The governor there had declared the major interstates closed to tractor- trailer traffic for the duration of the storm. From the border all the way down I- 81 to the Pennsylvania line, from Buffalo all along the thruway to Albany and south to the city, all tractortrailers had to get off the highways, making life safer for those passenger vehicles still venturing out and reducing the potential strain on first responders.
It makes eminent sense. It ’s also more efficient. Whatever commercial activity might be lost during the several hours of a storm would be compensated for by commercial activity not brought to a standstill when an accident closes the road. New York has multiple interstates and secondary roads equal to Ontario’s 401. Given that we just have one principal road, it’s relatively more important to us to keep that main thoroughfare open. The same is true for most other parts of the country, where there is only one major route available.
The truck drivers themselves would likely be the keenest supporters of such a move. It’s no fun, and often dangerous, to be out in the storm. Not to mention the risk of being arrested by an embarrassed SQ afterward.
Stay safe, stay warm, and stay off the roads in the storm.
WHY IS A TRANSPORT CARRYING DANGEROUS CHEMICALS ON THE ROAD?