Provincial police are patrolling Ontario roads in transport trucks this week in an effort to crack down on distracted driving by commercial truck drivers.
Ontario Provincial Police say the five-day road safety blitz launched Monday is the first time officers have used transport trucks on patrol.
They say being in the trucks will give officers a better vantage point for spotting distracted or dangerous drivers.
The OPP say inattentive driving causes over a quarter of all commercial vehicle collisions.
Operation safe trucking - Riding shot gun in a transport truck
— Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD)
Commissioner Vince Hawkes says the OPP has responded to more than 6,200 collisions related to transport trucks this year.
Hawkes says 69 of those collisions were fatal, killing a total of 84 people.
In one incident late last week, a 33-year-old man was killed when two tractor trailers collided on Highway 11 in Temagami, Ont., near Sudbury.
Police say Amandeep Mangat was a passenger in one of trucks. Officers say the drivers of both vehicles were injured in the Dec. 8 collision.