September 19, 2013
Hon. Lisa Raitt
Minister of Transport
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Dear Minister Raitt:
Subject: Urgent Legislative Action to Stop Fatigue Fatalities
On behalf of over one million unionized workers in Ontario, I am writing to urge you to respond to a recent open letter from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1624 President and Business Agent Allan Medd calling for immediate government action to put a stop to fatigue-related fatalities on our roadways.
As you are now aware, driver fatigue is a key factor in over 20 percent of annual vehicular collisions, making fatigue the highest measurable cause of collisions behind drunk or aggressive driving. According to the Canadian Council of Motor Transportation Administrators, driver fatigue is the cause of over 300 deaths and 2,000 serious injuries every year.
This carnage on our roadways it totally unacceptable and, in many cases, completely preventable through proper public education and stringent legislation.
Over the past decade, 36 percent of fatal motor coach crashes have been attributed to driver fatigue. One of the main and most preventable causes of these unnecessary tragedies is that many coach drivers are forced to work long hours with very little rest time between shifts. This results in diminished driver reaction time and, as you know, every millisecond counts when traveling on a highway. In order to prevent further deaths and protect the safety of Canadian coach drivers, we are calling on the federal government to present legislation when the house reconvenes to:
- Limit coach driver time to 10 hours per day;
- Limit coach driver on duty shifts to 14 hours per day;
- Guarantee a minimum of 10 hours rest time between shifts;
- Require all motor coach vehicles to be equipped with electronic logging technology; and
- Distinguish between motor coach vehicles and trucks.
This is an urgent matter of public safety and we hope that we can count on your government to act quickly and decisively to collaborate with ATU 1624 President and Business Agent Allan Medd on the drafting of this important legislation.
Sincerely,
SID RYAN
President
Ontario Federation of Labour
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is Canada’s largest provincial labour federation, representing 54 labour unions and over one million workers. Visit www.OFL.ca and follow the OFL on Facebook and Twitter @OFLabour
copy: Olivia Chow, Canada’s NDP
David McGuinty, Liberal Party of Canada
Click here to download the signed letter.
Click here to sign the ATU 1624 petition to put an end to this carnage on our roadways.
