The gap between the front and rear axles of large trucks, such as tractor-trailers, poses a safety risk for other road users, especially cyclists. For cyclists the danger is greatest when biking on the right side of a truck making a right turn – even if the turn is made at low speed. Over the years, several cyclists in Toronto have been caught in the gap between a truck’s axles and crushed under its rear wheels.
That gap also poses a threat at high speeds because cyclists can be sucked under the vehicles by the draft they generate as they pass by.
To prevent these “underride” collisions, a 1998 Toronto regional coroner report recommended that Transport Canada consider making side underride guards a requirement for trucks operating in urban areas. To date, no such requirement has been enforced.
Side guards fill the gap between a truck’s axles, deflecting other road users away from trucks in collisions rather than dragging them under.
In appearance, side guards can vary considerably. Some are little more than a series of steel bars, similar to the rear underride guards already on all Canadian tractor-trailers. Others are solid and look more like an extension of a vehicle’s side panel.
Several European countries, including Sweden and the UK, have required side guards on trucks since the 1980s.
In 2006, Olivia Chow (MP Trinity-Spadina) called for changes to the regulations associated with the Motor Vehicle Safety Act so that side guards would be mandatory on large trucks. Since then successive federal ministers of transport –who have the sole authority to initiate these changes – have failed to do so. In a 2006 letter to Chow, then minister Lawrence Cannon wrote that his department did not support a requirement for side guards because they “would increase the mass of the vehicle resulting in increased fuel consumption … and decreased competitiveness of Canadian trucking operations in comparison to US. Companies, which will not operate vehicles equipped with side guards.”
This, according to American auto safety expert Byron Bloch, is patently false: full-panel side guards actually reduce fuel consumption by reducing a truck’s aerodynamic drag. As a result, they pay for themselves in fuel savings over time.
Improved fuel efficiency is why the Canadian Trucking Alliance, representing 4,500 firms, advocates the use of “trailer side skirts,” which are extensions of the vehicles’ side panels. At press time. it was unclear what level of protection these skirts offer to cyclists.
Regardless, Chow plans to continue lobbying for protection this fall. In the interim, she urges cyclists to be cautious about riding next to trucks. “If they make a right turn, you can be dragged under their wheels. Don’t go into that gap.”
Originally published in the Summer 2009 issue of Dandyhorse.