Gorski Consulting
Gorski Consulting is a forensic motor vehicle accident reconstruction firm offering expert analysis and opinion to the legal, insurance, and private plaintiff/defendant communities for the resolution of civil and criminal litigation issues.
Since 1980, Zygmunt Gorski, the principal of the firm, has worked in the safety research and accident reconstruction fields. He has provided reconstruction analysis and expert opinions and testimonies for hundreds of vehicle accidents.
Recent Posts
City of Ottawa Officially Admits Its Failures in Multi-Fatal Bus Crash
We will likely never know what the City of Ottawa did to cause the multi-fatal bus crash of January 11, 2019. By accepting it was liable for the bus crash at its Westboro station Ottawa can be assured that much of the details of its actions will never be released to...
Silence About Sudbury-Area Child Collision Deaths Enables Future Tragedies
The cause of the deaths of three children in a single vehicle crash near Sudbury Ontario continues to be kept secret. What is known is that the dead children, aged 11, 10 and 6 were accompanied by a fourth child, aged 10, who sustained "undisclosed, life-threatening...
Three Children Perish Near Sudbury Ontario Without Explanation
Granted, the OPP released just a single photo of the collision-involved vehicle in which three children perished (shown above) in a collision near Sudbury on January 1, 2020 when the vehicle reportedly struck a rock cut. And a single photo can be very misleading. But...
Racism Prejudice and Discrimination – Make Them Homeless in 2020
This holiday season, celebrate your making racism, prejudice and discrimination homeless. Make them have no place to sleep, nor food to eat, nor encouraging words to grow. And give a warm and helping hand to the poor, mentally challenged and victims of misfortune who...
Propane Tanker Rollover Due to Road Bump Rarely Publicly Admitted
It is one of those things we do not talk about in public. Road bumps cannot cause collisions. At least not publicly. Yet the Kingston Whig Standard was willing to report to the public that, according to the driver of a propane tanker truck, this is exactly what caused...
Deceased Found Inside Pick-up Truck – Expertise in Aging of Evidence Needed
Wellington OPP report that they need to know the "time" when a collision occurred on the Woolwich-Guelph Town Line and Lerch Road.This might help in identifying the deceased found the Black Pick-up truck that was reportedly found "deep" within some trees. The OPP...
Bus in Hong Kong Tripped Over Low Barrier & Into Tree on Road Edge
Those who understand road safety issues can focus the public's attention to issues that may not be readily apparent. That was the case in the latest, multi-fatal, double-decker bus crash in Hong Kong yesterday that killed 6 passengers. It did not take long for...
How Effective is Re-Paving In Improving Poor Road Conditions?
Poor road conditions can lead to collisions. But what is a poor road condition? Gorski Consulting has been conducting testing on various roads in Southern Ontario to provide an answer to that question. Recently a roadway that contained some of the worst conditions was...
Your Child (And Puppy) Could Die From Lap-Belt Induced Abdominal Injuries
Undoubtedly Peel Regional Police meant well when they posted the above photo with a caption indicating "Seat belts dramatically reduce risk of death and serious injury among drivers and front-seat passengers". While the puppy photo is cute it fails to highlight the...
Vehicle Drowning in Peterborough? No One Knows
How much confidence is given when police search for a submerged vehicle and find a second one? Where did this second vehicle come from? Was there an unreported drowning? The OPP reported on Thursday, December 12, 2019 that they attended the Otonabee River on Monaghan...
Another Rear-End Impact of TTC Bus and No Information Available
We should be thankful to Global News for posting two photos of a school bus that rear-ended a TTC bus in Toronto because no one else publicized this important incident. There has been an increase in concern over bus passenger safety since the Humboldt Broncos tragedy...
Fatal Rear-End Impact of Mississauga Transit Bus – Issues Need Explanation
Informing the public about deadly dangers must be an unquestioned responsibility of those who have exclusive information about those dangers. That responsibility was needed in the latest fatal collision on Derry Road in Mississauga, Ontario when a passenger car...
School Bus Collision West of Smoky Lake Alberta Reminiscent of Humboldt Broncos
A bus crash near Smoky Lake Alberta this week brings back memories of the Humboldt Broncos crash. Looking at the two crash site photos (above) there is an eerie similarity with respect to the final rest positions of the vehicles. In the Smoky Lake case a smaller truck...
The Fast and The Furiously Burning
A fatal vehicle fire in Fort Lauderdale Florida is reminiscent of the fire death of Paul Walker from the "Fast & The Furious" But it also illuminates some confusing issues. Two young men Barrett Riley and Edgar Monserratt died in the crash. A third male occupant,...
New Road Surface Data Available For Highbury Ave in London
On October 23, 2019, Gorski Consulting conducted testing on Highbury Ave between Hamilton Road and Highway 401 in London, Ontario to document the road's surface conditions. This was done in a manner that has been discussed numerous times on the Gorski Consulting...
Toronto Street Car Damage – An Example of Successful Transparency
The safety of Toronto streetcar users was protected when its Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) properly informed the public of braking system damage on 25 of its units. This quick action should be applauded and it demonstrates how persons responsible for public safety...
City of London, like Hamilton, Struggles With Advice and Secrecy
Advisory Committees should provide advice, but the City of London's struggle with this issue may result in painful repercussions that have plagued another nearby city. Controversies with secrecy that have resulted in massive legal headaches and huge costs in the City...
OPP Posting of Collision Between Transport & Disabled Vehicle Enables Valuable Lessons
We congratulate Sergeant Kerry Schmidt for posting several photos of a collision on Highway 401 near Highway 6 as these enable a further discussion and valuable lessons to the public. As typical, not all the details of the incident can be obtained from just a few...
Parker or Donovan – OPP and SIU Differ About Which Police Officer Was Guilty
It is strange enough that one police officer would shoot another while both are in uniform and apparently conducting official police business. But it is not helpful that two independent policing agencies who investigated the incident appear to differ in their...
Drowning Fatality in Water-Filled Ditch Receives Minimal Attention
In news media reports from November 14, 2019 it was revealed that Brenda King, a resident of Chatham, Ontario died when her vehicle was found submerged in a water-filled ditch next to Tecumseh Road between Lake St Clair and Tilbury, Ontario. A single photo, shown...
Emotions Continue to be an Interference with Unbiased, Objective Analysis
Whether it be in the realm of religion, culture, climate, race, politics or justice there has been a marked increase in the emotional content of society's judgment. Whether it is the internet that is causing this polarization and radicalization or some unknown...
My Dear, Perhaps You Have Already Observed That In Casablanca Human Life Is Cheap
Chilling words from the fictional Nazi character Major Strasser to Ilsa Lund in the classic 1942 movie Casablanca. The movie was filled with propaganda to stir the western world in its war effort against Nazi Germany, along with digs against the hypocrisy behind truth...
Moving Over & Slowing Down Can Be More Dangerous Than Doing Nothing
It is apparent that basic information about the dangers of moving over and slowing down is being mis-reported leading to the potential of increased numbers and severity of collisions. In many instances initiation of braking and steering can be more dangerous than...
Gorski Consulting Completes 5 Videotaping Sessions at Clarke Road Site
How has traffic changed in 10 years? Does Electronic Stability Control make a big difference in preventing loss-of-control collisions. How about lane departure technologies, are they effective? These are some of the questions that are being answered as Gorski...
Another Fire & Death After Vehicle Strikes Pole in Vaughan Ontario
No photos were available nor were any details provided yet another motorist was killed when a vehicle caught fire after striking a pole on Dufferin Street in Vaughan, Ontario at approximately 0130 hours this morning. CP24 News reported that "Investigators were out on...
Videotaping at Clarke Road In London, From Ten Years Ago, Is Being Repeated
It was ten years ago that research was formally commenced by Gorski Consulting on the S-curve at Clarke Road north of Fanshawe Park Road in London, Ontario. In the fall of 2009 a series of 6 videotaping sessions was completed, each about 1.5 hours long, that...
Recognizing Collision Facts From Patterns of Damage in Head-on Collisions
Knowing what a typical pattern of damage in a head-on collision should look like can be useful in understanding what happened seconds before an impact. As I have measured damaged vehicles from hundreds of severe frontal impacts I have also created large scale diagrams...
Fire After Impact of Lamp Post Is A Dangerous Outcome Independent of Driver Impairment
The fact that a driver was drunk seems to make all the difference in a vehicle fire. That would seem to be the case in a collision on Oxford Street at Guildwood Blvd in London yesterday evening, October 5, 2019. An unidentified passenger vehicle struck a lamp standard...
Another Fire-Related Death in Collision on Simcoe St North of Oshawa Ontario
Another fatality related to a post-collision fire has occurred this morning, October 3, 2019, on Simcoe Street just north of its intersection with Old Simcoe Road, north of Oshawa, Ontario. While police reported that this was a head-on collision it was not quite so. A...
Reporting of Collision Fire Death Is Crucial to Public’s Safety
We must stop hiding fire deaths in collisions because this prevents action from being taken that might prevent future deaths. Another example of this problem relates to a head-on collision on Highway 406 at Glendale Ave near Thorold, Ontario.The OPP reported that a...
Bus Multiple Fatalities At Utah’s Bryce Canyon Illustrative Of Continued Systemic Problems
The public is not receiving the critical facts in multiple-fatality bus crashes that continue to exhibit obvious deficiencies in roadways and bus crashworthiness. This is clearly exemplified in the latest crash at Utah's Bryce Canyon on Friday morning, September 20,...
Body Falls on Van: Van Catches Fire – Does That Not Require Further Explanation?
Suicide from jumping off a highway overpass is believable. And noting that the victim fell onto a passing van is also possible. But having the van subsequently catch fire seems a bit questionable. Particularly when news media such as CP24 News reported that police...
Hwy 401 Woodstock Median Barrier Impact Causes Critical Injuries
The Ontario Provincial Police demonstrate a lack of understanding with respect to their role as the only entity that documents the critical evidence relating to serious and fatal motor or vehicle collisions. When deaths occur their role cannot be isolated to...
Barrier Impacts Causing Rollovers of Large Vehicles
Whether you drive a heavy truck or bus, or happen to be a passenger, you are provided with essentially no warnings regarding your danger when your vehicle strikes a roadside barrier. As an example, a tractor-trailer struck the end of a concrete barrier on Highway 401...
Cause of Fatal Rollover on Highbury Ave North of London Ontario Should be Provided
Basic information about the cause of roadway fatalities is increasingly unavailable. Some of this may be related to the challenging financial situation most official, news-gathering organizations are faced with. As the public increasingly looks to social media for...
Explosion After Vehicle “Slams” Into House In London Ontario
Questions need to be answered how an explosion occurred after a vehicle struck a house on the evening of August 14, 2019, on Woodman Ave in London, Ontario. Early reports indicate that a vehicle struck a gas meter of the struck house and this may have led to the...
Fire after Median Cross-over Double fatal on Hwy 401 at Dixie Rd in Toronto
Median barriers that are too low cause heavy vehicles to rollover and increase the severity of collision consequences. Such was the apparent case in a double-fatal collision that occurred on the eastbound Highway 401 at Dixie Road last evening, August 11, 2019....
What is a Life-Threatening Motor Vehicle Collision?
Police and news media provide the public with small glimpses of fatal motor-vehicle collisions while providing very little explanation whether any of these are of a suspicious nature. While the vast majority of these collisions are accidents and not criminal...
Motorcycle Fatalities Over Long Weekend An Inevitable Certainty
Despite what cautions may be given the reality is that the hot and sunny long weekend of August 3 through 5, will inevitably lead to an increase in motorcyclist fatalities. Already there have been reports of two fatalities on Friday evening, one near Grand Bend, and...
Road Testing Delays An Impetus To Fraud
A driving instructor in Richmond BC who reportedly hacked into provincial computers to accelerate appointment times for his clients illustrates a general fact of human nature. It has been reported that the average wait time for BC provincial driving tests was 70 days....
OPP Cruiser Impact in London Ontario Demonstrates Complexities of Enforcement
Not much is known at this time however an OPP police cruiser collision on Southdale Road in London, Ontario has reportedly resulted in critical injuries to two passengers of a taxi. It is reported that Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has commenced an...
City of London Appoints Zygmunt M. Gorski To Advisory Committees
Upon a review of applicants a City of London striking committee has appointed Zygmunt M. Gorski to membership in two of its advisory committees. The Community Safety and Crime Prevention Advisory Committee "...serves as a resource, information gathering and advisory...
Data From Recent Testing Added to Gorski Consulting “Road Data” Webpage
After posting several news articles on recent road testing, the subject data has now been uploaded to the Gorski Consulting "Road Data" webpage. Two datafiles have been added. One datafile relates to the testing that was performed this spring on the Red Hill Valley...
Did Heart Condition Cause Collision or Did Collision Cause Heart Condition?
Medical episodes are convenient explanations for fatal collisions. But they are not always the correct explanations. The cause of a double-fatal incident where vehicle was driven into Lake Ontario in Burlington, Ontario, was announced by Halton Regional Police. It was...
Beer Case Used As Child Booster Cushion Publicizes A Wider Safety Issue
The Ontario Provincial Police posted the above photo on their Twitter account showing how a case of beer was being used as a booster cushion for a 2-year-old child seated in the front seat. The photo is eye-catching and garners some publicity of what would appear to...
Explanation – Speed, Difference in Speed and Change in Velocity
It is rare that anyone provides the public with a simple explanation of the difference between "speed of travel along the ground" versus "difference-in-speed" or "change-in-velocity". These concepts are continually confused yet they are very important in understanding...
Better Access to Collision Data Needed to Properly Inform the Public
Publicity surrounding a sudden rash of fatal collisions in the last couple of days can be confusing. Does it mark an important change in pattern or is it simply due random fluctuation? These are the kinds of questions that could be answered by providing the public...
Deception in Median-Cable-Barrier, Multi-Fatal Collision on I-85 in Georgia
Apparently it does not take much effort to hide the fact that a median cable barrier failed to prevent an SUV crossing a median and killing 7 persons. While multiple news coverage focused on small images of the final rest position of the involved vehicles, attention...
Highway 401 Rear-End Impact – Why Was A Truck Travelling So Slowly in Fast Lane?
Simply blaming the rear-ending truck driver for a severe impact will not protect anyone from the next tragedy. But an objective, detailed analysis will. Scientific study can illuminate unknown or hidden factors that might be corrected resulting in a reduced chance of...
Connectivity, Artificial Intelligence & Privacy – A Tightrope Walk With Real Consequences
While there is a leeming's rush to be ahead of the pack with development of large-scale, connected, artificial-intelligence networks, society's privacy cannot be left to unregulated peeping toms at our bedroom windows. In the field of road transportation there are...
Drownings Persist With No Questions Asked & No Answers Given
Official news agencies continue to report on various mysterious vehicular drownings where bodies are found inside submerged vehicles yet no questions are asked. While Gorski Consulting does not have access to any official counts, at least three persons have likely...
Northbound Red Hill Valley Parkway – Differences Between Old & Re-Paved Surfaces
Gorski Consulting tested the old surface of the northbound Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton, Ontario and then re-tested the surface after it was re-paved. This article discusses some of the differences. The table below shows the data from the old surface that was...
Testing Of Re-Paved, Northbound Red Hill Valley Parkway
No obvious problems were detected when the re-paved, northbound Red Hill Valley Parkway was re-tested on June 16, 2019. This is the conclusion drawn after Gorski Consulting conducted testing in response to a driving instructor's complaint to the Hamilton Spectator...
Nothing Said of Third “Drowning” Victim in Leamington Crash
If not for the Windsor Star newspaper there would be no news what-so-ever of the triple "drowning" crash of June 16, 2019 near Leamington, Ontario. In fact not even the Windsor Star could confirm that all three occupants who were trapped in an upside down car in a...
Red Hill Valley & Lincoln Alexander Parkways – Detailed Tables of Surface Conditions
Attached in this article are the tables of individual, road-segment, surface-condition data obtained by Gorski Consulting during testing on May 15, 2019. The first table contains data for the eastbound Lincoln Alexander Parkway. The next table contains data for the...
Full Testing Results Completed For Lincoln Alexander & Red Hill Valley Parkways – Details Shortly
The full results from testing on the Lincoln Alexander and Red Hill Valley Parkways have now been obtained from testing conducted on May 15, 2019. Earlier we reported on the test results from the eastbound Lincoln Alexander and the northbound Red Hill Valley. Now we...
Drowning? Second Teenager Dies Near Leamington But Cause Still Not Confirmed
While the cause seems more certain, the death of a second teenager after a vehicle became submerged in a roadside ditch near Leamington is still not being discussed. The deadly incident occurred on night of June 16, 2019. The Windsor Star newspaper confirmed that this...
Lack of Roadside Barrier Results in Submersion of Vehicle in Fatal Crash Near Leamington
Vehicular drownings remain an unpublicized problem as demonstrated in the latest death near Leamington, Ontario on June 16, 2019. The Windsor Star Newspaper provided some images they obtained from Googlemaps showing the intersection where a crash occurred resulting in...
Lincoln Alexander & Red Hill Valley Surface Data Now Available
This article contains the data from road surface testing along the Lincoln Alexander and Red Hill Valley Parkways that was conducted by Gorski Consulting on May 15, 2019. The Red Hill Valley data was obtained just before it was closed for re-surfacing. The table below...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – New Paving Receives Complaint
In a "Letter-to-the Editor" of the Hamilton Spectator Newspaper, a local reader complained about the roughness of the newly-paved, northbound lanes of the Red Hill Valley Parkway. The letter read as follows: Newly-paved road a disaster RE: Red Hill I had the...
Highway 402 – Tables of Road Surface Condition Data Obtained From Testing on April 29, 2019
Tables showing the data obtained from specific locations along Highway 402 are provided here from testing conducted on April 29, 2019. As discussed in previous articles this data contains information about the disturbance in the test vehicle's motion caused the...
Drivers Beware – Road Data Shows Important Differences in 400 Series Highways in Southwestern Ontario
Drivers in Ontario have an objective way of comparing the safety of road surfaces. In the most recent series of testing, Gorski Consulting has compared the surfaces of Highway 401 and 402 with interesting, and differing, results. The testing involved driving a test...
Gorski & Shalaby Collaborate on Brief to Canadian Parliament’s Bus Passenger Safety Committee Meeting
It was a considerable honour to work with Professor Ahmed Shalaby, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Manitoba, in preparing a co-authored brief that was presented to the House of Commons Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities on the...
Some Collision Scenarios Are Challenging
There are some collisions scenarios where seat-belts, air bags and crumple zones will not help, but there are still escape routes! The above photo demonstrates that, despite the propaganda, there are limits to what vehicle safety design engineers can accomplish to...
Highway 401 Road Surface Is Not Without Local Safety Problems
While testing by Gorski Consulting showed that the westbound Highway 401 between London and Tilbury was generally in good condition, local safety problems were also noted. This is a problem when drivers expecting a good, smooth surface are suddenly faced with a local...
Additional Road Data From Westbound Highway 401 Testing
What road surface conditions could make our vehicle go out of control and kill us? That should be an important issue to anyone who travels on any roadway. Gorski Consulting has been gathering data on this issue for the past 5 years and this has been posted on the Road...
Preliminary Road Data For Westbound Highway 401
Preliminary results are available from road surface testing of westbound Highway 401 conducted on May 5, 2019. The full testing commenced at Wonderland Road to Tilbury, Ontario and then the test vehicle turned around and continued from Tilbury back to Highbury Ave in...
OPP and News Media Sensationalism is Not a Virtue
The public must be able to depend on police and news media to report facts much like Sergeant Joe Friday in the 1950s and 60s TV show "Dragnet". "Just the facts ma'am" was a popular phrase attached to Jack Webb, the actor who portrayed Friday. While it was a fictional...
Roadway Surface Safety Problems Are Not Just Potholes
Influences of the road surface and geometry toward motor vehicle collisions are not easily detected. They are not restricted to the seemingly innocuous reference to "potholes" used in popular, public, news media. While the popular Canadian Automobile Association...
London Ontario Proposes 30 km/h Speeds in School Zones
Various persons and groups have resorted to a propaganda campaign portraying a direct relationship between travel speed and safety as the only issue of importance. In London, Ontario for example a local city councillor is petitioning for lowering City speed limits...
Posted Speed, Operating Speed and Speed Enforcement
While maximum speeds are posted along almost all roads and highways in Ontario that has little to do with the operating speed, which is the average speed that vehicles are observed to travel. Speed enforcement is the police function of controlling the speed of...
Vehicle Fires – 5 Fatalities & No Concerns
Three collisions involving vehicle fires and five fatalities occurred in less than a week in southern Ontario - yet there has been no expression of official concern. Late Wednesday, May 1st, a vehicle exited Oil Heritage Road in Lambton County and burst into flames...
Hiding of Out-Dated Guardrail Terminus In Multi-Fatal Crash
The hiding of the fact that a guardrail terminus where four teenagers drowned in Miramichi New Brunswick on April 20, 2019 was outdated and inadequate is irresponsible. Future tragedies might be avoided through recognition and replacement of such installations. But...
Pedestrian and Pole Impact in 40 km/h School Zone
It may be of little interest to the general public that a car reportedly struck a pedestrian in a school zone and then struck a utility pole. But to an accident reconstructionist the facts are intriguing. It has been reported that yesterday afternoon a Nissan Altima...
Miramichi 4-Drownings – How Did They Get Past The Guardrail?
A CBC photo showing an undamaged guardrail does not explain how a vehicle carrying four young victims got past a guardrail and into a pond where they drowned. Surely we should require an explanation. The photo below was posted on the CBC website reportedly showing the...
Drowning of 4 In Upside Down Vehicle Is Not An Isolated Occurrence
Four teenagers drowned last night when their vehicle came to rest upside down in water on the side of Nelson Street in Miramichi, New Brunswick. This is not an isolated event. We try to highlight these tragic events where possible because many are preventable through...
An OPP Fatal On Highway 401 Near Dutton That Almost Happened
Just because a collision resulted in no injury does not mean that it was a minor incident. It is often a canary in the coal mine that we need to hear. A near-fatal collision on Highway 401 near Dutton reported on the OPP Twitter account appears to be much more...
Issues Relating to Highway 401 Fatal Rear-End Impact Near Milton
The fact that drivers have difficulty with slowing or stopped traffic was not mentioned in the latest reporting of a fatal, rear-end impact that occurred on Highway 401 near Guelph Line yesterday. While the OPP were helpful in their posting of three photos of the...
Inequality From Ontario’s Cuts To Legal Aid Is A Further Step In Wrong Direction
In the field of motor vehicle collision reconstruction I have occasions to examine how the legal system functions with respect to persons charged with various crimes related to motor vehicle collisions. At times I have been approached by persons looking to defend...
School Bus Low Speed Rollover Could Have Been Deadly
A very low speed rollover of a school bus in north-west of Toronto yesterday could have been deadly - so what made it a successful non-event? To begin with, there was no information about the specific location of the mishap. It reportedly occurred on Cold Springs Camp...
Investigation of Death of Jake Hughes Demonstrates Systemic Problems
When the public does not have access to the basis for death investigations no questions are asked even when the basis is flawed. This also applies to families who are kept in the dark about how conclusions were reached in assessments of their members' deaths. In many...
New Head-Up-Display On Windshields Is Not A Distraction?
What do we define as distraction? Is it additional information that is processed thus slowing a drivers perception/response to the outside environment? If so then more detailed information being displayed on windshields of new vehicles could be viewed as distractions....
City Using Deep Public Pockets In An Unreasonable Court Challenge
When you have unlimited tax dollars to pay the costs you can challenge court rulings all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). That is the knowledge that can be gained from the recently released judgment of the SCC involving the liability of the City of...
Failure To Reveal Evidence Is The Secondary Humboldt Broncos Tragedy
Strong opinions have been expressed about fault and what requires changing as a result of the Humboldt Broncos tragedy. Yet there is an unexplainable unwillingness to recognize crucial evidence affecting the validity of those conclusions is still missing. Above all,...
Police Nab One Tail-Gater But 87 Others Missed
A London Free Press website article discussed the OPP use of an aircraft to catch tailgating vehicles. A photo was displayed showing a tractor-trailer that was travelling along Highway 401 east of London, Ontario on the afternoon of Sunday, March 24, 2019. The truck...
Cycling in London Ontario: An Island In A Large Sea
Cycling is becoming ever more popular in Southern Ontario. In the City of London Ontario a multi-use trail system provides safe cycling from three connected prones of trail extending from downtown. One segment, approaching 10 kilometers in length, takes cyclists from...
Boeing Software Problems Await Autonomous Motor Vehicle Age
Did we really believe that surrendering vehicle control to a complex of bits and bytes was going to solve all our motor vehicle safety problems? Just look in the air for a clue as to what's too come. In grandpa's days, when the steering wheel did not turn the wheels...
Lack of Proper Sight Lines At Humboldt Broncos Site Being Ignored
There is no question that Jaskirat Singh's mistake of driving his truck through a stop sign was a major causal factor in the deaths of the multiple occupants of the Humboldt Broncos bus on a Saskatchewan intersection on 6 April of 2018. That point has been the focus...
Automatic Emergency Braking Voluntarily Installed By Manufacturers
Federal Safety Agencies claim that is it is faster to get Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) installed voluntarily than by being forced by legislation. According to a 2015 voluntary agreement among twenty manufacturers, ten of those manufacturers installed AEB...
Vehicle In Ditch Causes Massive Police Reaction
There must be some further reason why a massive police presence was required when a vehicle was found stopped in a Highway 3 ditch near Windsor yesterday. The Windsor Star newspaper reported that two occupants fled after their vehicle "rollover" in a ditch of Highway...
Vehicle Fire Warning Continues
Gorski Consulting has posted a number of warnings about the apparent increase in the numbers of fires occurring in motor vehicle collisions, or sometimes when vehicles are not even being driven. The latest incident on King Street in Toronto had significant...
Arizona Concludes Median Barrier Less Safe Than No Barrier
An Assistant Director of Transportation for Arizona, Steve Boschen, believes Interstate I-10 near Tuscon "...is actually much safer without barriers". He states further: "If there is an incident, the vehicle has a better chance at stopping once it hits the dirt...
Move Over Law Sometimes Creates Traffic Safety Problems
Moving over for stopped emergency vehicles can create rather than avoid traffic safety problems. A recent photo of the scene of a traffic collision on Highway 401 exemplifies one of the problems. The photo below shows that some vehicles have stopped on the right side...
Unprotected Concrete Pillars – What Roadside Protection Is Warranted?
A recent fatal impact of an unprotected concrete pillar of the Highway 402 overpass at Glendon Road begs the question what kinds of roadside protections are warranted to prevent such tragedies. There are standards that exist in Roadside Design Manuals that are...
Highway 401 Truck Median Cross-over Near Chatham – Did it Occur?
Scant information on social media sites indicates that a transport truck may have crossed through the high-tension median cable barrier of Highway 401 near Bloomfield Road, Chatham, yesterday, March 12, 2019. A photo posted by Matt Lajoie shows the damaged left front...
Hwy 402 Fatal Impact of Unprotected Overpass Pillar – Review of Evidence
Police and news media have not discussed the details of how a female driver was fatally injured when her SUV struck an unprotected pillar of an overpass on Highway 402 at Glendon Drive. The following discussion will provide some of those details. It was reported that...
Fatal Impact of Unprotected Overpass Pillar on Hwy 402 Near Glendon Drive
With a 2016 traffic volume of 21800 vehicles, why was the overpass pillar on Highway 402 at Glendon Drive not protected by a barrier when its impact resulted in a fatality earlier this morning? It is being reported that at approximately 0200 hours this morning an...
Gentlemen, Start Your Computers!
The unnerving reality is that your new car is a computer on wheels. Do you have anti-virus protection? A March 7, 2019 article by Jim Motavalli of the New York Times entitled "Locking More Than the Doors as Cars Become Computers on Wheels", gives us an insight of what...
Do we Move On, Until the Next Highway 401 Fatality, No Better Informed?
A fire and two collisions, one involving a fatality, that occurred on Highway 401 near Chatham, Ontario on March 4, 2019, have now been given some scant publicity by local news agencies. The Chatham Daily News newspaper has been the most prominent and the London Free...
The Godfather Returns?
Why is it that we have this feeling about current politics of not waking up from some nightmare where the family of Don Vito Corleone has taken over?
What is a Poor, Bumpy or Rough Road?
"Roll-Up-The-Rim" has a different meaning when, every spring, Ontario drivers pay thousands of dollars to replace rims damaged from striking roadway "potholes". The meaning conveyed to the public is that this is some kind of God-sent, but innocuous, plague that we can...
Hiring of a Ford Friend And Firing of a OPP Deputy Commissioner is Just Plain Wrong
No matter how you spin the story, the notion that the OPP Commissioner should be a good friend of the Premier of Ontario is just wrong. Independence between the top of the Ontario's police and the top of the Ontario government must be a fundamental necessity for...
Three Incidents That Did Not Happen on Highway 401 East of Chatham
Thousands of vehicles, including heavy trucks carrying valuable cargo were stranded in Chatham yesterday when a series of "Three Incidents" did not occur - or at least from an official news point-of-view. Social media provided photos showing major destruction between...
No News Of Highway 401 Incidents East of Chatham
Something happened on Highway 401 east of Chatham, Ontario sometime yesterday, or the day before that. We are not really sure. But something happened. The best that the London Free Press could accomplish on their website was to provide a historical view of Highway 401...
Consequences of Truck Crash Through Hwy 401 Median Barrier Generally Ignored
Do we need fatal consequences before the public is informed of a potential safety problem? Given the lack of reporting of a truck recently crashing through a Highway 401 barrier it would appear so. There was no coverage of the incident by official news media other...
Winter Changes in Road Surface Conditions Remain Challenging To Most Drivers
Recent multi-vehicle pile-ups on Highway 400 and 401 in southern Ontario demonstrate the challenges that exist when road surface and weather conditions deteriorate. The extent of those problems is rarely publicized as government agencies that are responsible for...
Some Police Going 170 km/h Are Charged, Others at 200 km/h Are Not
"The message has to be sent that officers can't put the public at risk by driving in this manner" (Prosecutor), but what message is sent when others travelling at higher speeds are not charged? Consistency in the application of the law is critical to the justice...
Staying In Your Vehicle After A Collision Is Irresponsible Advice
An irresponsible news item shown on the local CTV News channel in London Ontario claimed that police and "experts" both advise motorists to stay inside their vehicle after an accident because the vehicle is designed to take any additional impacts. Furthermore a local...
Collision Avoidance When Design Safety Reaches Its Limit
Although great improvements in vehicle design have saved many lives, for those incidents where design has reached its limit, modern collision avoidance is taking a giant step forward. The classic angle collision with direct impact to a driver's door is an example...
Witness Sent Innocent Man To Prison For 40 Years
Judicial systems cannot continually reply on witness evidence as the basis for convictions without supporting evidence. That was made clear once again in the case of Craig Coley. It has been reported that Mr. Coley was released in 2017 after serving nearly 40 years in...
Police Officer Impairment Conviction Demonstrates Complexity of Issue
Not all impaired drivers are the same. There are unique circumstances that lead unique individuals to make bad choices. It has been reported that a 19-year-veteran of the London City Police was convicted of impaired driving following tests of her breath registering...
Worst Roads Season – Evaluation Fails to Use Objective Facts
Every year a province-wide evaluation of road problems is publicized based on subjective complaints. Why does the evaluation not use objective data instead? Every year the official news agencies publicize the results of a Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) "Worst...
Cycling Safety Top Priority In London Disagreements
Much like many North American cities London, Ontario is dealing with a transition from single-unit, automotive priority to mass transit and "active transportation". The past one hundred years has seen the birth of the North American road network based on relatively...
OPP Make Correction To Erred Conclusions
In a news item published on December 27, 2018, Gorski Consulting questioned the OPP conclusions with respect to a fatal collision that occurred on Southminster Bourne Road. Those conclusions have now been corrected. Southminster Bourne Road is located just south-west...
Example of a Relatively Safe Police Traffic Stop
Police traffic stops near busy or high speed roadways are a genuine danger. Mainly to the officer, but also to all traffic in the vicinity. A "Move Over" law has been enacted in Ontario that is an attempt to make such stops safer. Unfortunately new dangers are created...
Changes To SIU Forthcoming
News media have indicated that changes to Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) will be announced this week. The Ford conservative government stopped earlier Liberal legislation that would have improved the functioning of the SIU. That earlier legislation was in...
Documentation of Un-Reported Collisions Continues
How many collisions occur that never get officially reported? That fact can affect the reliability of collision statistics and what the public is told about roadway safety. Gorski Consulting has been involved in a long term study of unreported collisions and...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – Reduced Maximum Speeds Increases Chaos
Posted maximum speeds along the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton have been reduced. Such an action may produce more safety problems. Even before the discussions about the hiding of the Tradewinds Scientific report, the City of Hamilton should have been aware of the...
Rapid Notification System For Emergency Expressway Closures
Set-up of a collision rapid notification system for emergency expressway closures is needed to deal with instances where a collision leads to additional collisions. The need becomes obvious from examination of many expressway, multi-vehicle pile-up collisions. As a...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – The Public Deserves To Have Answers
"The Public Deserves To Have Answers". These were the words of David Smosarski in a letter read at a meeting of the Hamilton City Council yesterday. His daughter Olivia had died in a May 5, 2015 crash on the Red Hill Valley Parkway almost two years after a lost 2013...
Automatic Emergency Braking Needed To Prevent Multi-Vehicle Crashes
Snow and poor visibility this past week has demonstrated the importance of speeding up the installation of automatic emergency braking (AEB). A number of multi vehicle collisions have occurred on the 400-series expressways of southern Ontario this past week. These...
More Car Fires But Still No Alarms
The latest unexplained car fire occurred today, February 13, 2019, in a parking lot of a mall in Toronto. Still, no one appears to be concerned. Gorski Consulting has raised the warning flag on several occasions in the last couple of years regarding the apparent...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – The Plague of Secrecy
The meaning of road surface friction data or that a single report may have been hidden pales in comparison to the overall issue of secrecy that predominates road safety issues. A local uproar erupted in Hamilton, Ontario when it was revealed that a 2013 technical...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – Is The Friction Data Corrupt?
Road surface friction data at the junction between the Lincoln Alexander and the Red Hill Valley Parkway appears to be strange, at best. Before concluding anything there needs to be an explanation. There has been much uproar over the revelation that a report of...
The Honourable Rev. Fred McFeely Rogers
“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.” The Honourable Rev. Fred McFeely Rogers
Heavy Rescue 401 Favoured While Professional Journalists Excluded
There is nothing wrong with an entertaining television show that highlights the dangers and hard work that police, rescue and towing personnel deal with on a daily basis. It is a question of exclusion of other journalists who are there not just to entertain an...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – MTO Or Commercial Confidential Document
Revelations regarding a hidden 2014 technical report authored by Golder Associates with respect to low pavement friction data on the Red Hill Valley Parkway (RHVP) in Hamilton, Ontario, are continuing by the hour. According to the latest news provided by the Hamilton...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – No One Ever Releases That Type of Information
Gary Moore, Hamilton's previous engineering director gave the most honest assessment of what truly goes on in the engineering departments of many municipalities in Ontario. In an interview with the Hamilton Spectator (the interview date was not disclosed) a request...
Red Hill Valley Parkway – Will Rest of Secrets Be Revealed?
Staff at the City of Hamilton have apologized for keeping a damaging report hidden with respect to surface conditions of the Red Hill Valley Parkway. But will they now release the other reports and data that remain hidden? CIMA is a well-known municipal defense...
Vehicle Fires Continue Without Much Attention
Vehicle fires that occur in minor impacts, or from no impact at all, are occurring without any attention. These are potentially life-threatening events if an occupant is not able to escape. In a Twitter post earlier today, police stood before their camera and...
Neck Injury of Small Stature Females in Frontal Impacts
Research with respect to neck injury potential can be conducted to provide a variety of conclusions for the purposes of supporting or denying an injury claim. Those in the courts that are presented with the results of such research are neophytes in understanding the...
Humboldt Broncos – Where are Road Inspectors’ Log Books?
Road inspectors are required to make records of road safety deficiencies. These log books are as important to public safety as the log books filled out by truck drivers. News media have reported that Jaskirat Singh Sidhu's log book contained 51 violations of trip...
Humboldt Broncos Bus Driver Braked Before He Could See Truck?: RCMP
In an agreed statement of facts reported by news media, the RCMP investigation concluded that both drivers in the Humboldt Broncos crash could see each other 2 seconds before impact. The RCMP also concluded that the bus was travelling at 96 to 107 km/h when it struck...
Was the Humboldt Broncos Bus Travelling at 123 km/h? A simple Question.
Was the Humboldt Broncos bus travelling at 123 km/h before its driver applied the brakes? There should have been a simple answer to this question, almost 10 months after the crash of April 6, 2018. But given that the police report has still not be revealed to the...
School Bus Seat-Belts & Humboldt Broncos Misinformation
Official news and social media stories about school bus seat belts and the Humboldt Broncos crash are creating a large amount of misinformation. Melfort Saskatchewan is where the sentencing hearing is to begin with respect to the trial of Jaskirat Singh Sidhu. Sidhu...
Fires After Low Speed Impacts
Fires after low speed impacts have been mentioned on a number of occasions on this Gorski Consulting website. Fires are occurring far too frequently. Fires are occurring in minor collisions when they should not. We can only issue this warning. If there is no one that...
Statements of Defense are Never Based on Specifics of a Case
Statements of Defense have never been based on the reality of a specific motor vehicle collision. They are meant as a "catch all" to cover all the bases in case the legal proceedings turn in an unexpected direction. Persons who ought to know better appear to be...
Hwy 401 Rear-End Impact of Tractor-Trailer West of Chatham
The OPP released a photo of a collision that occurred on Highway 401 between Queens Line and Essex Road 42 earlier today, as shown below. News media reported that a Tractor-trailer was rear-ended by a car when both were travelling in the eastbound lanes. Really? Why...
The Honourable Dr. Martin Luther King
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." The Honourable Dr. Martin Luther King
Bus Crash Optics Need Better Optometrist?
A slightly faster speed could have led to multiple fatalities in a 1971 bus crash but no one noticed. Even now a photo of the incident was only a novelty for the public's amusement. The Hamilton Spectator Newspaper reached into it archive photo footage today to reveal...
Guilty Pleas To Avoid Public Awareness
The recent quiet guilty plea of an SNC Lavalin executive is an example of the newest way to keep the public in the dark. The CBC's Elizabeth Thompson reported that Normand Morin, former vice-president of Lavalin pled guilty to five charges of contravening Canada's...
Humboldt Broncos Multi-Fatal Bus Crash Was Likely Influenced by Lack of Proper Intersection Visibility
In a companion article ("Issues of Concern With Respect to the McElhanney Report on the Safety of the Humboldt Broncos Collision Site") that has been posted on the Articles page of this Gorski Consulting website we have explained how the Saskatchewan Department of...
Fatal Result in Rollover on Highway 6 Should Not Be Expected
The OPP released the photograph shown below of an SUV that rolled over on Highway 6 in Flamborough earlier today. This is a classic example of a rollover that should not have resulted in fatal injuries. While we cannot see the other side of the vehicle and sometimes...
Humboldt Broncos Tragedy Doubled By Silence
It is vitally important to understand what factors led to the tragic deaths and injuries in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan on April 7, 2018. Previous collisions are an early warning that, if ignored, lead to current ones. And...
Highway 401 – Adjustments to Data on Unintended Veering at Four Sites
Unintended veering out of a travel lane is rarely documented with sufficient precision. Yet this could be a cause of many collisions such as the multi-fatal collision on I-75 near Gainsville Florida that occurred on January 3, 2019. Using multiple, synchronized video...
Multiple Child Fatalities in Florida Crash – Questions Need to be Answered Regarding Guardrail Performance & Fire
While many fires erupt following collisions nothing is revealed why and how they occurred and whether they were preventable. When a major highway such as Interstate 75 in Florida is equipped only with median guardrails there is no question being asked whether such...
Artificial Intelligence In Transportation Requires Clean and Unbiased Data
The fast-evolving areas of artificial intelligence (AI) hold great promise in road transportation as sensing of vehicle motion becomes incorporated in new vehicles and within roadway infrastructure. While there are a lot of big data out there that can be used to train...
Windshield Penetration Only Looks Horrific – But Raises An Important Safety Issue
The penetration of a car windshield by a flying piece of plywood looked horrific when presented in several photographs by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) on their Twitter account on January 2, 2019. The incident occurred on Hwy 410 just northeast of Toronto,...
Headlight Performance & Cost May Surprise You
An article in the November 29, 2018 Status Report of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) may be surprising with respect to the performance and costs of new headlights. The IIHS studies show the poor performance of headlights on some new car models from a...
Guardrail System Installed & Functioned Properly Yet Fatality Occurred
A properly-installed guardrail was struck on Southminster Bourne Road southwest of London, Ontario on December 26, 2018 yet a fatality still occurred. What caused this fatal result to the 27-year old female driver is unknown. No photographs were made available by the...
Highway 401 Westbound Traffic Volume Completed For Kenesserie Road Site
Calculation of traffic volumes have now been completed from the videotaping session on Wednesday, December 19, 2018. These calculations have been added to the table of the other sites and the new table is shown below. The results show that the Wednesday videotaping...
Protection by Roadside Barriers May Have Been Factor in Three Area Fatalities
Very little information has been provided with respect to three persons who are deceased following two collisions in Southwestern Ontario. Both collisions may have components related to the protection provided by roadside barriers. It was reported that on Christmas...
Merry Christmas to All, From the Tall to the Small
Let us all feel the enlightenment of children, like Mr. Scrooge and Mr. Grinche. That we have the capacity to bring good to our world if we allow a change to take place within us. Vengeance, anger, disrespect and intolerance are the four horsemen that have ridden...
School Buses Catch Fire But Little Concern Because They Were Parked
A "malfunction with the electrical wiring" was blamed for the start of fire which destroyed several parked school buses in New Minas Nova Scotia on Saturday morning, December 22, 2018. The photo below shows the extent of the blaze. This single phrase, a "malfunction...
Kenessarie Road Location Added To List of Videotaping Locations Along Highway 401
On December 19, 2018 Gorski Consulting completed another videotaping session along Highway 401 at the Kenessarie Road site just east of Chatham Ontario. This now completes four sites that have been videotaped this fall. The site locations are shown in the figure...
Reporting of Highway 401 Median Crossover Collisions Needs More Clarity
The installation of a High Tension Cable Median Barrier (HTCMB) in the 118 kilometre distance of Highway 401 between Tilbury and London Ontario has been controversial in that some groups have been lobbying for the installation of a concrete, Jersey-type barrier as...
Highway 401 Safety Issues – Veering Out of a Travel Lane
An unintended veering out of a travel lane can be the cause of traffic disruptions that ultimately lead to a collision. Collision Reconstructionists who examine the post-collision evidence are rarely able to detect the physical evidence of such an action because, for...
Hwy 401 – Median Crossover by Truck at Downie Road
Another median crossover incident occurred on Highway 401 just east of Downie Road on December 17, 2018. This is significant because the involved tanker truck struck the High Tension Cable Median Barrier (HTCMB). The HTCMB is being installed along the 188 kilometre...
Impact of Stopped Truck In Hwy 401 Construction Zone
Why was a transport truck stopped on the westbound Highway 401 in a construction zone near the James Snow Parkway near Milton Ontario when it was rear-ended by a mini van resulting in major injuries to the two occupants of the the van? The official news media provided...
Highway 401 Safety Issues – Gaps Between Vehicles
The results have now been tabulated with respect to the gaps between westbound vehicles travelling in the right lane of Highway 401 from four videotaping sessions. It can be recalled from previous discussions that Gorski Consulting has conducted videotaping at four...
Highway 401 Safety Issues – Average Speed
Observations of average speeds of vehicles travelling along Highway 401 have been updated as a result of further analysis of the videotape obtained from four sites. It can be recalled from previous postings that Gorski Consulting has conducted videotaped observations...
Humboldt Broncos Accident Site – Report Confirms Original Opinion of Gorski Consulting
The line of sight at the Humboldt Broncos accident site in Saskatchewan was immediately brought into question by Gorski Consulting shortly after the collision in April of 2018. This opinion was provided even though we did not attend the site nor did we have any scale...
Truck Median Cross-over Collision on Highway 401 at Merlin Road West of Chatham Ontario
A median cross-over collision occurred this morning on Highway 401 just west of Merlin Road, west of Chatham, Ontario. An eastbound truck passed through the new High Tension Cable Median Barrier (HTCMB) and struck two other westbound trucks just west of the Merlin...
Highway 401 Safety Issues – Traffic Volumes
Gorski Consulting has documented the Highway 401 traffic volume in its continuing series on safety along the South-western Ontario segment of the highway. A series of videotaping sessions was conducted at four sites along the highway. The video is being analysed and...
Driver Drowning at Port Bruce, Ontario
This is the controlled beach at Port Bruce where large, closely-spaced, concrete blocks prevent any traffic from entering the water. It is a difficult location for someone wanting to drive into the water... Why would a driver arrive at a traffic controlled beach in...
School Buses & Seat-Belts – Continued Confusion and Misunderstanding
We all understand that keeping children safe on school buses is of great importance. However what may appear to be an obvious solution is not. This issue is complicated and a quick fix may lead to more danger than is realized. In the most recent news, the CBC has...
Fires Continue to Erupt After Recent Collisions
The above photo was posted on the CP24 News website describing a fatal collision in Pickering, Ontario. The collision is under investigation by Ontario's Special Investigation Unit (SIU). The SIU becomes involved when serious injuries occur that might be caused by...
Observed Speed of Vehicles On Hwy 401 At Four Sites
What kind of safety problems exist along the busiest highway in Canada? Government agencies such as the Ontario Ministry of Transportation monitor traffic along Highway 401 but that information is not made available to the public. Some of this data could be...
The Honorable Mr. Harry Leslie Smith
“I am one of the last few remaining voices left from a generation of men and women who built a better society for our children and grandchildren out of the horrors of the second world war, as well as the hunger of the Great Depression. Sadly, that world my generation...
Highway 401 – Four Sites Explored for Traffic Motions & Problems
Gorski Consulting has now completed four sites along Highway 401 in southwestern Ontario where video data was obtained to explore traffic motions and potential safety problems. The map below shows the sites. Analysis of the video data is ongoing. One of several safety...
World-Wide Only 10 % of Bicycle Accidents Are Reported
A recent article (by D. Shinar et. al.) published in the Accident Analysis & Prevention, Volume 110, January 2018) examined the official reporting of bicycle accidents in 17 nations. It was estimated that only about 10% of such collisions were officially reported....
OPP Conduct Focused Patrols on Hwy 401 Near Chatham Resulting in 629 Charges
Reports indicate that the Ontario Provincial Police have been focused on the area of Highway 401 near construction zones between London and Chatham. 629 charges have been laid since June of 2018 including 469 for speeding. One of the complaints of unsafe actions...
Compulsory Truck Driver Training – An Effective Way of Improving Trucking Safety?
Traffic fatalities have gone on the upswing again in the past couple of years after many decades of decreases. However in the U.S. early estimates for traffic fatalities for 2017 indicate that a slight decrease of about 0.8 percent is expected in comparision to 2016...
Hwy 401 – What is More Dangerous Speed or Difference In Speed?
High speed can be dangerous, but is it more dangerous than a difference in speed? That is one of the questions that can be explored through the analysis of traffic motions on major expressways such as Highway 401 in southern Ontario. Observations by Gorski Consulting...
Toronto Bus Pole Impact Demonstrates General Weakness of Bus Structures
The impact of a pole by a TTC bus in Toronto yesterday afternoon reflects the general weakness of bus structures. The Humboldt Broncos bus crash in Saskatchewan earlier this year demonstrated how catestrophic bus crashes can be because of the potentially large number...
Highway 401 Speeds Reduced by Interference of Speed-Governed Heavy Trucks
The above photo is a frame capture from one of the video cameras used in a study of traffic conditions on Highway 401 by Gorski Consulting. When heavy truck speeds are limited to a maximum of 105 km/h this can cause all traffic to slow down because those trucks block...
Unexplained Fatality in Minor Frontal Impact in Brampton
No explanation has been provided as to why a 53-year-old Brampton man died as a result of a minor frontal impact with a small wall on Garryoaks Drive in Brampton, Ontario this morning. Official news agencies indicate that police have not determined what caused the...
Questionable Life-Threatening Injuries in Several Collisions In Past 24-Hours
Some collisions in the past 24-hours have reportedly resulted in life-threatening injuries that should not be expected. As an analyst under contract to Transport Canada I studied the mechanisms by which persons sustained their injuries in motor vehicle collisions for...
Fire at 2-Vehicle Collision Is A Warning Of Future Tragedy
The fact that 5 people escaped a vehicle fire with only minor injuries is not something we should cheer. It is only a matter of time when such an incident with become a future tragedy. The above photo taken by Spencer Taylor shows how a fire engulfed both vehicles...
Questionable Impact Performance of ET-Plus Guardrail Terminal Near Strathroy Ontario
Once again an ET-Plus terminal manufactured by Trinity Highway Products of Dallas Texas has demonstrated its questionable safety performance. Yesterday morning, Tuesday, November 6, 2018 police reported that a car was westbound on Calvert Drive, south-west of...
Lest We Forget: 6 Seat-Belted Dead, 3 Un-Belted Survive
In 1976 the Province of Ontario enacted legislation requiring the use of seat-belts. On a wintery April in 1979, a church-going family of six adults put on their seat-belts and set out in their Oldsmobile on Highway 2 west of Woodstock, Ontario. They became...
Hwy 401 – Preparations for Another Round of Traffic Documentations
How will the new installation of High Tension Cable Barriers between Chatham and London, Ontario be repaired in a timely fashion after sustaining impact damage? That is an important question. This is one of many important issues facing Highway 401 between Chatham and...
Highway 407 Fuel Tanker Fire & Double Fatal – Research To Find Similar Causes
The following photos depict a single vehicle's motion that was documented during our study of possible causes of collisions on major expressways such as Highways 401 or 407. Signage was present for over 1 kilometre warning this driver that the right lane was...
Yes, Speed May Kill, But Acceleration May Be The Silent Killer
A while ago a visiting acquaintance with a past life in auto racing asked me to step into his high performance sports car for a "short ride around the block". Just after pulling out of my driveway on a residential speed he accelerated to 110 km/h before he reached the...
Hwy 407 Tanker Truck Fire – Further Analysis
Constable Kerry Schmidt, speaking on behalf of the OPP investigation into the fiery tanker truck collision of yesterday, reported that investigators now believe that both of the vehicles that were engulfed by the fire on Highway 407 on the outskirts of Toronto were...
Highway 407 Tanker Truck Fire – Dashcam Analysis
Two obvious issues needed to addressed from yesterday's explosive fire that erupted when a tanker truck crossed over a concrete median barrier on Highway 407 between Keele and Dufferin Streets on the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario. A driver's dashcam captured the...
Highway 401 – Median Barriers, Construction & Other Complaints Are Studied
At highway speeds, with high traffic densities and a sudden emergency, drivers need to make quick decisions that could cost them, or drivers around them, their lives. Decades of research has helped to create the roadway environments that reduce the need to make those...
Farm Tractor Lighting – Not Enough, Too Much or Too Confusing
Farm tractor lighting can lead to collisions when drivers do not understand their difference from typical motor vehicles. Farm tractors, much like construction equipment, often contain extra, flashing, lights that are located at portions of the vehicle that are not...
OPP Speed Enforcement on Hwy 401 – Actual Observations Indicate Greater Problem
The OPP reportedly conducted a two-day "aerial blitz" of speeding vehicles along Highway 401 last week. The number of charges are far below the actual number of speeders that could have been ticketed. It was reported that 72 charges were laid, 38 of which were for...
Extreme Case of Bumper Over-Ride Highlights A Common Safety Issue
An extreme case of bumper over-ride was published on the OPP's West Region twitter account today. The front end of a tall pick-up truck was shown on top of the hood and windshield of a small passenger car and the incident reportedly occurred in the area of Norfolk...
School Buses and Seat-Belts – The Issue Is Not So Clear-Cut
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has recently broadcast a documentary (The Fifth Estate) and published articles discussing its investigation into an alleged improper decision by Transport Canada to prevent school buses from being equipped with seat-belts....
Higher Severity Ambulance Fatal in Brampton Unusual Considering Typical City Speeds
It is unusual that an ambulance would be involved in a significant head-on collision on a typical arterial roadway in Brampton, Ontario, resulting in the death of an occupant of the striking car. Yet this occurred last evening on Queen Street West and McMurchy Avenue....
Aylmer Express Newspaper Journalists Acquitted
It was a test of Canada's freedom, democracy and the public's right to know. On this occasion the test was passed. Early reports indicate that Aylmer Express journalists Brett and John Hueston have been found not guilty with respect to charges of obstructing police on...
Non-Alcohol Drug Impairment Not Detected In Motor Vehicle Collisions
What has been revealed about the ability to detect non-alcohol drug impairment now that legalization of cannabis has taken place in Canada? For decades there has been a focused attention placed on alcohol impairment and various statistics have shown its relevance to...
Mandatory Truck Driver Training – An Expensive Bandage For A Cancer?
There is a developing belief that privately-administered, mandatory, truck driver training will create reductions in the frequency and consequences of truck collisions. These reductions must out weigh the generated costs that are monetary but will also include a...
Humboldt Broncos Conclusions Drawn Though Evidence Not Revealed
Failure to release evidence regarding any major incident causes many unwarranted conclusions to be drawn. That observation has been demonstrated many times in history. Thus it is so with the tragic multiple fatalities that occurred April 7, 2018 when the Humboldt...
Policing Unsecured Loads Is A Public Safety Benefit
Unsecured loads are a danger to the occupants of a vehicle and this is an issue that is often misunderstood. Constable Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) posted several photos on the OPP West twitter account showing a van loaded with various supplies...
City of Hamilton Still Does Not Recognize Barrier Problems Along Red Hill Valley Parkway
It is as if the City of Hamilton has been living in a cave. Throughout North America various news agencies have reported on the questionable performance of guardrail terminals. Gorski Consulting has posted examples of several incidents along Hamilton's Red Hill Valley...
Kavanaugh and Ford Reveal Difficulty in Determining Truth
What is witness reliability? Yesterday's hearing in the U.S. regarding Brett Kavanough's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is an opportunity to high-light the difficulty that exists when attempting to draw conclusions about the truth of an incident based solely on...
Fires After Impacts Should Not Be Inevitable
We do marvelous things to protect occupants from the forces of an impact, then we allow them to be burned to death in the aftermath. Than outcome should not be inevitable. Yet, fires appear to be occurring with greater regularity and little is done or said why this is...
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