Larger long-haul trucks help cut emissions, improve road safety

A recent study conducted in Canada has revealed that larger long-haul trucks reduce harmful exhaust emissions and improve safety on the highway.

The study, by the Canadian Trucking Alliance-Natural Resources Canada, claims that double-trailer configurations not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions from trucks but also lead to better highway safety.

According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance-Natural Resources Canada, the two-year study involved 10 trucking fleets from Western Canada and Quebec that use the longer-combination vehicles, known as turnpike doubles, as well as single trailers.

The study pointed to the fact that turnpike doubles are about two to three times safer than the overall tractor-trailer fleet travelling on Ontario’s multi-lane highways when measured by kilometres travelled per vehicle. It was estimated that they save, on an average, 28.8 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres of truck travel when compared to single-trailer configurations – which comes to about 55% saving.

Turnpike doubles, the alliance study said, also could reduce the number of trucks on the road by between 6% and 10%.

New Brunswick has been involved in a pilot project for several months using combination vehicles consisting of a tractor and two, 16-metre trailers. Sunbury Transport has been operating the trucks between Dieppe and Saint John. The vehicles operate under a special permit.

A spokesman for the Nova Scotia Transportation Department said that the department is looking at the New Brunswick project with the possibility of it being extended to Nova Scotia.

He said the province is doing analysis on simulators. Various truck lengths are being considered, but there has been no decision yet on whether longer trucks would be suited to the province’s highways.

Peter Nelson, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, say that, thanks to the reduced emissions resulting from longer trucks plus new environment-friendly engines and ultra-low-sulphur diesel fuel, Canada will have an almost emission-free truck fleet by 2010.

The study by the Canadian Trucking Alliance-Natural Resources Canada estimates that 900 million kilometres of truck travel would be saved annually by expanding the use of turnpike doubles, besides saving 260 million litres of fuel and avoiding 730 kilotonnes of greenhouse gases.

The study was conducted by a consulting firm and overseen by a steering committee including Climate Change Central, the Centre for Sustainable Transportation, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, Transport Canada, and the Canada Safety Council.