MP calls for mandatory side guards on heavy trucks following cyclist's death

TORONTO, Ont. -- New Democrat MP Olivia Chow is renewing calls for mandatory side guards on trucks after a cyclist was killed in Toronto.

In a letter to federal Transport Minister Denis Lebel, Chow wrote: "Every year, numerous cyclists and pedestrians are victims in often-fatal collisions with heavy trucks. The survival rate could easily and significantly be improved by fitting trucks across the country with side guards, which would prevent vulnerable road users from being trapped in the space between a truck's wheels."

She cited stats indicating 20% of bicycle fatalities in Canada involve large trucks and in urban areas it's as high as 40%. Chow said Transport Canada first examined the feasibility of mandating side guards on heavy trucks in 1998, however no action was taken.

Chow proposed a bill in 2006 that would mandate the use of side guards and in 2010, she introduced a Private Member's Bill which would require their use. Chow said her calls for side guard legislation was ignored because of fears over "decreased competitiveness for Canadian trucking companies."

She noted Europe mandated the use of side guards in 1989.

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Oakland Port Resumes Operations Following Protests

Protesters removed barricades from the entrance to the Port of Oakland Thursday following an agreement reached between demonstrators and a port workers’ union, the Oakland Tribune reported.

Terminals at the port — the fifth largest U.S. container-handling port— were up and running Thursday, a port spokesman told the Tribune.

The Occupy Oakland movement that shut the port down Wednesday night reached agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union after the ILWU cited concerns about dock workers losing pay, the paper reported on its website.

Before removing the barricades, several demonstrators had gotten into near confrontations with some truckers at the port, but there were no reports of arrests or injuries, the Tribune said.

About 4,500 people from the Occupy Oakland movement marched to the port Wednesday night, shutting down operations.

Occupy Oakland, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York Sept. 17 and spread to other cities, had called for a general strike in the city, prompting hundreds of workers to stay home or leave their jobs early, Bloomberg reported.

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