On May 29th, 2006, Oliva Chow, MP for Trinity Spadina and former Councillor and Co-Chair of the Toronto Cycling Committee, spoke to the assembled crowd of cyclists whom she had been riding with in the Bike Week 2006 Group Commute. She talked about the issue of side guards on large trucks (also called side underrun guards or side underride guards). There she announced that she was planning to introduce a private member's bill in the Canadian Parliament that would ask for an amendment to the federal Motor Vehicle Safety Act that would require large trucks to have side guards to prevent cyclists and pedestrians from being pulled under the rear wheels. You can read more about this issue in the previous article Time for some action on truck side guards. She also encouraged cyclists to sign the petition that was circulating asking the federal government to mandate side guards to lend support her effort. You can download a copy of the petition at the following link to print it off and start collecting signatures. Truck Side Guard Petition When you have it filled you just mail it in postage free to Olivia's House of Commons address which is on the petition.

Olivia Chow MP Trinity-Spadina announces at Bike Week Kick off event that she will introduce a private member's bill on truck side guards.

On May 31, 2006, Ms. Chow presented the first group of petitions that she has received in parliament. The following is the Hansard quote of her comments as she introduced them.

Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to present three sets of petitions. The first set is five pages, from many citizens from Toronto. Recently there have been several cyclist deaths involving big trucks. Given that the coroner's report in 1998 into the death of a Toronto cyclist noted that 37% of the conditions resulting in cyclist deaths involve big trucks, and that the U.K. and Europe all reduced injuries to cyclists and pedestrians by installing side guards in trucks, this petition is asking for an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Safety Act so that there will be side guards installed on big trucks in Canada.

This should be the first of many petitions that will be presented to the House. The more signatures that are collected and presented the more support Olivia has when it comes time for her to present her Private Member Bill.

Martin Koob
tcc-rep@tbn.ca