The Ontario Safety League is calling for a provincial task force to investigate how to diminish the high amount of tractor-trailer accidents on provincial highways.
Four tractor-trailer accidents have occurred in the past eight days on 400-series highways in the GTA.
"We have some issues on enforcement that we want to deal with and some issues on engineering that we want to deal with," Brian Patterson of the Ontario Safety League told CTV News on Friday.
"We want to look at this quarterly, not just once a year."
Sgt. Cam Woolley of the Ontario Provincial Police contends it's not just truckers who are to blame for deadly rollovers; smaller vehicle motorists are also at fault.
The OPP's annual province-wide statistics on road safety compiled by the Ministry of Transportation show trucks represent less than 3 per cent of the vehicles involved in crashes.
"I don't think it's an issue of just truck drivers not getting respect. I think we have extreme driving going on on the roads all the time and there is a tremendous amount of discourteous, disrespectful driving and it's leading to a significant number of these crashes," Patterson said.
Patterson said his morning commute on Friday highlighted some of the dangerous driving practices on the road.
"I saw tractor-trailers and other vehicles cut off 17 times. That's ridiculous," Patterson said.
Transport Minister Donna Cansfield has vowed to meet with the Ontario Trucking Association to discuss the issue of road safety and preparedness.
The Ontario Trucking Association responded by saying big-rig drivers and smaller vehicle motorists should review the rules of the road to ensure safe driving practices are followed.
There are approximately 900 deaths a year on Ontario roads.
The OPP reports more than 80 per cent of all vehicle crashes are a caused occurrence and not an accident.
