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
Poor Explanation of Double-Fatal Collision In Perth County Ontario
It cannot be sufficient to provide confusing information about a double-fatal collision because the death of any member of the public needs to be reliably explained. Persons die mysteriously in unexplained ways in unlawful countries where dictators rule and mobs roam....
Harpooned Vehicle – Disappointing Response by Police & News Media
The best that can be said about police actions is that they posted photos of a harpooned vehicle so that the public could consider the consequences. Only a couple of news agencies picked up on the story, as if it was of minimal importance. Nipissing West OPP reported...
Cyclist Death In West London Demonstrates Safety of Path System Has Long Way To Go
Official news media reported that a 77-year-old cyclist was killed when he was struck by a pick-up truck as he tried to cross Gainsborough Road in west London, Ontario on Saturday, September 5, 2020. The view available to the pick-up truck driver is shown in the above...
Zipper Merge Signs at Highbury Ave Construction Zone – Are They Effective?
The City of London Ontario has put up some interesting "Zipper Merge" signs in the construction zone on Highbury Ave. The signs are supposed to encourage drivers to use a "zipper merge" technique that, so far, has been ignored by Ontario drivers. Below is a frame...
Cyclist Critical Injuries on Path Illustrates Need For Proper Design & Maintenance
Two cyclists reportedly collided in a bike trail near Lakeshore (east of Windsor), Ontario on September 1, 2020, resulting in life-threatening injuries to one of them. Examination of the site on Google Maps indicates that it contains a severe lack of visibility around...
Wakaw Saskatchewan Fatal Collision Driver Wants Answers That Gorski Consulting Cannot Provide
Jeff Helperl is a fortunate, unfortunate driver who survived the collision shown above where a transport truck reportedly rear-ended a line of stopped vehicles in a construction zone on Highway 41 near Wakaw Saskatchewan on August 25, 2020. He sent the above photo,...
George Floyd & Masai Ujiri Demonstrate Just How Much Objective Evidence Matters
Objective evidence is a huge equalizer to achieving justice, not just in assessment of motor vehicle collisions but in far wider circles. Can we imagine what the situation would have been like if there was no one to videotape the murder of George Floyd? Or even the...
Speed Can Be Irrelevant In Injury Causation
While the title of this article sounds completely wrong it is an important lesson to understand why it is mostly right. It is never convenient to discuss the results of real-life motor vehicle tragedies because they always involve real people. Yet a failure to educate...
Tanker Truck Through Guardrail Shows Inadequacy of Roadside Barriers
On Friday, August 14, 2020 the OPP Twitter account informed the public of the closure of Hwy 401 west of Kingston, Ontario due to a collision involving a tanker truck which had spilt liquid tar into a creek. Photos were attached with the notification, the one shown...
After Questioning of Bomb Report Police Admit it Was a Fire
There may be legitimate reasons why police are not forthcoming with further information on the fatal "explosion" that killed a man in a car in front of the Kitchener-Waterloo courthouse on Friday, August 14th, 2020. In an article posted to the Gorski Consulting...
Was it a Death of a Bomber or a Simple Car Fire?
We can swallow what we are told fully and completely or we can critically evaluate what we are told. Such is our intent is commenting on the reported explosion of a car in front of the Kitchener courthouse on Duke Street yesterday. The site photos show the exploded...
Nothing Learned or Changed At Anniversary of Massive Explosion in London Ontario
Yes there was a great deal of excitement when a good portion of the Woodman Ave block exploded in London, Ontario on August 15, 2019. The story made national headlines for several days. But what changes did it bring? We know the incident started when an impaired...
Wheel Separation Fatality on Hwy 401 Demonstrates Randomness of Death
A 24-year-old driver was killed today, August 12th, when a wheel separated from a trailer and crashed into the windshield of his van on Highway 401 between McCowan and Markham Roads near Toronto. Although a tarp was placed over the windshield and roof areas the extent...
Traffic Conflicts in An Expressway Construction Zone
Further analysis and discussion has been provided in a new Gorski consulting article entitled "Traffic Conflicts In An Expressway Construction Zone". This is in addition to a previous article posted on the Gorski Consulting website on July 17, 2020 entitled "Trench...
Vehicular Drownings in Region of Chatham-Kent And Essex Counties
On the evening of July 27, 2020 a vehicle carrying three children travelled off the gravel surface of Jacob Road in Chatham-Kent Ontario. The vehicle came to rest upside down in a water channel adjacent to the road. While the driver managed to retrieve two of the...
Multiple Bus Fatalities While Canada Continues Its Mushroom Cultivation
Multiple bus fatalities have once again dominated Canada's headlines yet we have learned nothing from any previous catastrophe. The latest tragedy reportedly occurred yesterday, July 18, 2020, on Highway 93 at the Columbia Icefield between Banff and Jasper national...
Typo Correction: “1122 Vehicles” Was likely “112” Vehicles
The perils of publishing. For those who have been examining our April 11, 2020 article "COVID-19 Effects on Highbury Ave Traffic - Review & Discussion of Data", a typo error was discovered regarding the testing of November 7, 2019 on Highbury Ave at...
Trench Warfare in the Expressway Construction Zone
We have all seen it. The battles of the expressway construction zone. But rarely do we discuss it. The battles and dangers that exist in the line-ups approaching construction zones on high-speed expressways are something that is rarely discussed or detailed. As part...
Fires In Vehicle Collisions Continue To Be An Ignored Road Safety Problem
Do vehicle fires represent a growing safety problem when vehicles collide? Not only is an answer unavailable but the question is not being asked. This despite an alarming number of vehicle fires that keep occurring during collisions. The most recent vehicle fire...
Speed Is Not What Killed 3 Audi Passengers In Edmonton Crash
Speed likely contributed to a loss-of-control of the Audi but it was the "Can-Opener" separation of its structure that was likely a major factor in the deaths of three of its occupants in a July 3, 2020 Edmonton Alberta crash. The results of vast numbers of controlled...
High Speed Rollover on Williams Parkway in Brampton Can Be Educational
A seemingly spectacular video clip has been shown of a car going out of control on Williams Parkway in Brampton, Ontario, crashing through a roadside fence, rolling over multiple times and striking a parked car. The best that can be said is that no one was killed,...
Is Speeding In Toronto OK If You Are Rich?
Starting on July 6th no demerit points will be added if you are caught by Toronto's speed cameras, only a fine will apply. So If you are the owner of a Ferrari and you have some wealth, will you care if you have to pay a $600 fine? Likely not. But the owner of a...
Results From Bicycle Speed Observations on Trafalgar Road Path
On June 2, 2020 Gorski Consulting conducted multiple-video camera documentations of northbound cyclists travelling along the City of London multi-use path approaching the underpass at Trafalgar Road. Video analysis has now been completed and the results have been...
Observations From Mother & 3-Child Fatal Collision in Brampton
The following are some preliminary observations from the tragic death of a family at the intersection of Countryside Drive and Torbram Road in Brampton yesterday afternoon. It was reported that an eastbound Infiniti, being driven by a 20-year-old male, on Countryside...
Additional Cyclist Speed Documentations on Trafalgar Bike Trail In London
The speed of cyclists on downgrades was previously reported in a Gorski Consulting article of October 8, 2018. That article examined three sites where substantial downgrades existed and it was demonstrated that cyclists generally coasted to high speeds. One of those...
One Bad Decision By One Driver Can Lead To Death of Many Innocent Others
We have seen the scenario depicted above on numerous occasions. A slow-moving heavy truck and an impatient driver. The consequences of an error in this scenario could be higher when the truck is a tanker loaded with explosive cargo. As shown below the pick-up driver...
Nine Motorcyclists Killed in 18 Days of May
Averaging at least one motorcyclist fatality every two days is not a good record. But that is the strange Ontario reality during the Covid-19 Pandemic in this month of May. The following list represents some of those killed although it may be not complete. On May 1st...
Tools Have Changed But Collision Reconstruction Still Dependent On Detail, Quality of Thought and Integrity
The caveman who worked harder at chiseling his stone into a smoother wheel was eventually rewarded with greater success. This idea has not changed in thousands of years, although the tools have. Motor vehicle collision reconstruction may have been in existence for one...
Public Deserves Honesty in Collision Reporting
Local news media have reported on an OPP new release claiming that Middlesex County Roads in the Province of Ontario are more dangerous and that fatalities are on the increase. Some of the reported statistics include the fact that in the past 10 years, 115 people died...
Evaluation of Speed Display Boards in School Zones in London Ontario
The functioning of speed display boards (SDBs) has been documented at two school zone sites in east London, Ontario.On September 3 and 6, 2019 observations were made on Tweedsmuir Ave in front of St Bernadette's Catholic Elementary School. On May 17 and 19, 2011 and...
Latest Site Where Covid-19 Effect Being Evaluated: Brydges Street in London, Ontario
From a traffic standpoint Covid-19 is changing how we behave on our roadways. Previous articles posted on this Gorski Consulting site have discussed lower traffic volumes, higher speeds and lower numbers of higher-severity collisions. These are dramatic changes, not...
Police Push-Bar Advantage in RCMP Stevenson Crash Clarified
In a May 3, 2020 article published by several CBC journalists about the head-on collision between Constable Stevenson and the mass murderer Gabriel Wortman in Nova Scotia, a substantially inaccurate quote from a road safety expert exaggerated the safety advantage of...
Ontario Expressway Collisions During Covid-19 Pandemic
In an article ("Overall Safety of Ontario's Expressways Hides Chronic Safety Problems") posted on the Gorski Consulting website on January 9, 2020, we listed 21 collisions that were reported by official news media which occurred on Ontario's expressways in...
Constable MacRae Helping Ducklings – A Message Beyond Simple Act of Kindness
That simple act of kindness portrayed by Constable MacRae of the Waterloo Regional Police sends a far larger message to us all. The Waterloo Regional Police uploaded three photos on their Twitter account showing the actions of one of their own Constables helping a...
Puzzling Road Safety Results During Pandemic
Covid-19 is a science experiment that no one wanted, but once it's over, we will ask some large questions about how it affected road safety and transportation in general. An article published by CP24 News in Toronto today reported that "Police report thousands fewer...
Updated Speed and Traffic Volume Comparisons Under Covid-19
New speeding and traffic volume data is available for westbound Highway 401 at the Graham Road interchange. In an article posted to the Gorski Consulting website on April 20, 2020, data was revealed showing a comparison between Covid-19 and pre-Covid-19 speeding and...
Four Police Deaths From Speed Enforcement Stop Is A Wake Up Call
Catching speeders during the Covid-19 pandemic can be more dangerous to police stopped on the highway. This observation is re-enforced from the tragic news of four police officers who were struck and killed on the Eastern Freeway near Kew in Victoria Australia two...
Preliminary Speeding Data for Hwy 401 at Graham Road Near West Lorne Ontario
At least 16.7% of unobstructed, non-trucks travelling in the fast lane on Highway 401 at Graham Road were travelling over 130 km/h. This observation was made as part of a preliminary analysis of a two hour videotaping session designed to explore the effects of the...
New Video Documentation on Highway 401 at Graham Road
The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on traffic characteristics was documented yesterday, April 20, 2020, on HIghway 401 at Graham Road near West Lorne, Ontario. This documentation is subsequent to an article posted on the Gorski Consulting website showing the effects...
Speed and Traffic Volume Comparisons Under Covid-19
A recent Global News article indicated that a City of Toronto news release indicated that there has been "...a 35 per cent increase in speeding tickets and an almost 200 per cent jump in stunt driving incidents compared to the same time last year". Other news agencies...
Why is the Trumpet Section Impossible to Play With?
We're all entrapped in our own homes. I understand that. But why should a band come marching through my neighbourhood and force me to listen to what they play? An irritating conductor with no sense of rhythm who loves trumpets above all else is in town. He has...
What Was The Launch Speed Of This Polish Rocket?
This photo is (apparently) not a gimmick. It is the actual trajectory of a polish car that was recreated by a collision reconstructionist from a short video clip taken by bystander yesterday. The car reportedly struck a tree on the far side of the roundabout and then...
Day-Dreaming Lessons on the Highway
I get on the highway and, as luck would go, I end up behind a vehicle doing barely the speed limit, on rare occasions, but mostly and unmercifully below. The road is hilly and curved and unsafe to pass. I think to myself "What the hell, what are you doing?". The...
Highway 401 Truck Barrier Impact Is Not A Success Story
The fact that only minor injuries occurred may seem like a success story, but this is just Russian Roulette. A tractor-trailer struck a construction barrier, rolled over and caught fire on Highway 401 near Winston Churchill Blvd in Mississauga in the afternoon of...
COVID-19 Effects on Highbury Ave Traffic – Review & Discussion of Data
This article reports on the comparison between traffic prior to the effects of COVID-19 versus after those effects on the Highbury Ave expressway near Commissioners Road in London, Ontario. Data is now available from testing conducted on November 20, 2019 and April 7,...
COVID-19 Effects on Highbury Ave Traffic in London Ontario
Traffic on Highbury Ave videotaped on November 20, 2019 has been compared with a similar videotaping session on April 7, 2020. This work is being done for a number of reasons. But the obvious fact is that traffic volume has been reduced due to the effects of the...
COVID-19 Virus Effects on Traffic on Clarke Road in London Ontario
Traffic volume reductions on Clarke Road in north-eastern London, Ontario continue to demonstrate the effect that the Corona Virus has on the functioning of our society. This site has been monitored for the past 10 years and a number of articles have been posted on...
COVID-19 Virus Effects on Highway 401 Traffic in South-Western Ontario
Gorski Consulting has collected data regarding the change in volume and composition of traffic on Highway 401 since the COVID-19 pandemic has taken effect. In the fall of 2018 Gorski Consulting conducted a number of 2-hour, videotaping sessions along Highway 401...
Hwy 404 Fatal Impact of Bridge Pillar Should Not Occur
The superior design of expressways such as Highway 404 in Toronto should not result in a fatal impact to a bridge pillar. Yet, from the scant description provided by the OPP on their Twitter account this is what reportedly occurred. The collision likely occurred in...
Results From 560 Observations of Urban Traffic Signal Responses
Gorski Consulting has now completed the documentation of 560 instances of driver response to a red signal turning green at numerous intersections throughout London, Ontario. A dashcam was used in a vehicle that was positioned behind the drivers who were stopped at a...
A Head-on Collision In Huron County – A Review
Although the most severe, head-on collisions also provide the greatest opportunity to use the structure of vehicles in riding down the destructive forces of that impact. This was clearly shown in the OPP photo shown above, relating to a serious head-on that occurred...
Desolate Corona-Virus Highways Could Be Relief For Safety But Not Good News
It is hard to have traffic fatalities when there is no traffic. This may be what is in store in the short term as the Corona virus turns society on its head. A domino effect can be initiated when the Corona virus response causes large numbers of businesses and events...
Pandemic Puts Road Safety News In Last Place
If this were a horse race, all would be losers except Pandemic, the horse who came from behind quick, and from nowhere. Unfortunately this is not a horse race, a test drill, or a Hollywood script. It's the real thing. Hopefully, in a year or two we will look at these...
Preliminary Data on Reactions to Traffic Signals
Some preliminary results are available from our documentation of driver's reactions to the change of a traffic signal from red to green. This data is for the year 2018 and includes 174 observations. The analysis involves examining the videotape of scenarios such as...
Do You React To A Traffic Signal Like You Do To An Impending Impact?
Do you respond to an impending collision in the same way as you respond to a traffic signal? That question is being examined through research by Gorski Consulting. In the past fews years vehicles stopped at traffic signals have been videotaped with a dash camera in...
Unexplained Frontal Crush to OPP SUV in Unidentified Collision
Unusual things happen, but explanations would help. How does an unoccupied OPP SUV sustain major frontal damage with no injury to the occupants of the opposing vehicle? Firstly, the front ends of OPP SUVs are very stiff. Something like a Ford Explorer that may be...
Transport Truck Collisions In Winter: A Demonstration of Expressway Safety Problems
Poor weather, large numbers of heavy trucks and a lack of safety education are a toxic mix on Ontario's expressways. This has been made apparent again when a winter storm passed through southern Ontario in the past couple of days. Police posted warnings before the...
Failures at Hwy 403 Median Cross-over Collision Near Brantford
Officially, the cause of a loss-of-control, median cross-over collision on Highway 403 near Brantford yesterday is claimed to be unknown. But certain facts point to failures and possible causes. Without official presence during the investigation it is difficult to...
A Focus Beyond Lucky Results In Potential Vehicular Drownings
Whenever a vehicle enters a body of water the consequences can be deadly. Especially in winter conditions. Such a result requires an investigation into how and why the vehicle got there in the first place. The OPP West Region Twitter account recently posted the...
High Publicity Crashes in London Neighbourhoods – What Does The Public Know About Them?
High publicity crashes in quiet neighbourhoods of London, Ontario create many uninformed conversations "around the dinner table". But rarely is enough information available for the public to develop an informed opinion as to causes or what needs to be changed or...
Red Hill Valley Parkway Judicial Inquiry – Rejection of Participants, What Next?
A judicial inquiry is underway in Hamilton, Ontario with respect to the circumstances regarding a technical report that became "lost" and then was subsequently "found". This technical report was prepared for the City of Hamilton and contained test results performed by...
Actions and Inactions Have Consequences
One of the greatest blessings bestowed on our earthly world is that the actions of fools bear consequences.
Road Condition Data Available for Westbound Hwy 401 – Woodstock to London
In a February 5, 2020 news article data was presented from testing conducted along Westbound Highway 403Â from Hamilton's Lincoln Alexander Parkway to Highway 401 at Woodstock. Since then additional analysis has been completed from testing on Westbound Highway 401...
Testing Shows Safety Difference In Ontario’s Expressways
Gorski Consulting has been continuing to document the conditions of road surfaces on Ontario's roads and highways. In recent studies data has been obtained describing the condition of Ontario's expressways. The results of previous testing have been presented on the...
Truck Pushing Car on Hwy 401 – A Missed Educational Opportunity
No one will know why police have charged a truck driver who dragged a passenger car along Highway 401 after a video posted on social media brought attention to the January 13, 2020 incident. It is easy to make the judgment of the truck driver's road rage or his...
A Formal European Garden? What Do We Wish To See?
Today, January 27th, has been marked by the United Nations as the international remembrance day commemorating the liberation of the remaining victims of the most notorious Nazi murder camp of WWII in southern Poland. After an unspeakable life of surviving WWII my...
Confusing Numbers in OPP Enforcement Blitz on Hwy 401 West of London
In late January, 2020, the OPP conducted a "Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement" blitz near London, Ontario. Although the exact number of police personnel involved in the blitz is unknown it was reported that officers from Chatham-Kent, Elgin, Middlesex, Oxford,...
School Bus Fire in Cornwall Ontario – Why Has No One Asked How & Why It Started?
The school bus driver was a hero for saving 7 students - But why is there no publicity for how and why the bus caught fire? This is a common question we ask at Gorski Consulting yet no one else wishes to ask the same question. It has been reported that on the...
Fire Truck Strikes Child in Crosswalk – What Should Be Emergency Personnel Responsibilities?
Sometimes in our haste to save a life, we take a life. That is a tragedy that we need to avoid. But regrettably this happens too often. Sometimes while responding to an emergency police, fire or ambulance personnel may themselves become involved in a collision and...
Critical Injuries From Impact of Bus Shelter? Something Does Not Make Sense.
Those responsible for keeping us safe are failing in their duties when a driver sustains critical injuries from impacting a flimsy bus shelter and no explanation is provided. There is no structure to a bus shelter that could cause a vehicle to decelerate in the manner...
Do We Ignore Speed Advisory Signs? – More Results
Three days ago Gorski Consulting posted results from videotaped observations of vehicles passing through a curve in the fall of 2009. Those results showed that the average speed of vehicles passing through the curve was 75.2 km/h, or over 15 km/h higher than the...
Video of Salting/Sanding Truck Dragging Car – Further Explanation
There could be a simple explanation why a video showed a salting/sanding truck pushing a car into a guardrail in Toronto. As the truck driver explained, he was attempting to steer into the right lane and did not observe the car. If the car was located at his right...
Salting Truck Dragging Car on Hwy 401 – What Does the Video Mean?
Social media outrage has clogged the internet upon the release of a short video showing a sanding truck pushing a car into a guardrail on Highway 401. Police reported they were not aware of the incident but since then they confirm that it occurred on January 13, 2020...
Do We Ignore Speed Advisory Signs?
Governments spend money to post various warning signs on highways but do drivers heed these warnings? It would seem to be a waste of money if these signs were ignored. Gorski Consulting has conducted testing that reveals some interesting results. In 2009 Gorski...
Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry – Will Taxpayers Receive Official Standing?
The starter's pistol has been fired into the proceedings of the Red Hill Valley Parkway fiasco that will plague the City of Hamilton for a number of years into the future. Presently officials are arguing over who can line up at the starting line, allowing them to give...
Windsor Bridge Completion & Complications From Expected Increase in Truck Traffic On Highway 401
Highway 401 in Southern Ontario is slated for widening between Tilbury and London from 4-lanes to 6-lanes. In a recent Windsor Star article Chatham-Kent-Leamington Provincial Parliament representative, MPP Rick Nicholls was quoted as saying "“My concern is that we...
Overall Safety of Ontario’s Expressways Hides Chronic Safety Problems
In comparison to 2-lane, rural highways Ontario's expressways have always been a safer mode of travel. However, because of higher traffic volumes, the number of reported serious and fatal collisions is higher on Ontario's expressways. Such statistics produced by...
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. Unfortunately we cannot show these photos here. There has been an increase in concern over bus...
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...
You must be logged in to post a comment.