Lambs to the Slaughter

July 9, 2026 · 0 Comments

by SHERALYN ROMAN

Caledon roads are at an inflection point and we are not alone. Across the country, indeed across North America, road safety is declining to the point where we might be forgiven for thinking every time we leave our homes we’re like innocent lambs being led to the slaughterhouse.

Not everyone is innocent, of course, and it’s unfair to lay the entire issue of road safety at the feet of truckers, but it is also long past the time when we can continue to make excuses for illegal trucking, Drivers Inc infractions, poor training and the deplorable lack of action from our provincial government. At least the federal government seems to be listening, but we wonder, just how many more people have to die on our roads before true action is taken?

Amongst what I’m sure are many other incidents, just in the last two weeks commercial trucks have been involved in three separate incidents involving rear end collisions. Whether any attempt was made to stop isn’t clear, although at least one of them involved a slow-moving farm vehicle with flashers on and they are kind of hard to miss. The other two occurred on the two major highways that border our town to the east and west, and which are increasingly proving to be roads that are beyond any adequate description of just how bad they are when it comes to safety. Where is our provincial government? The sign on the door of the legislature says “Out of Office.”

On Highway 50, container-carrying trucks regularly turn at least one lane into a parking lot.

They’ve also been recorded driving the wrong way on the shoulder of the road, making a myriad of unsafe left turns and even u-turns. U-turns! Speed isn’t always a factor, sometimes it is the sheer volume of trucks and the unsafe manoeuvres just described. Meanwhile on Highway 10, it is speed, speed and more speed, often combined with fully loaded gravel trucks moving between the seemingly endless pits and quarries that dot the ward one landscape. Despite multiple calls for attention from some of our local municipal leaders, like outgoing Councillor Lynn Kiernan, the mayhem continues.

On Canada Day, we happened to meet up with volunteer members of the CCRSA who, it sometimes feels like, are the only ones continuing to draw attention to the road crisis Caledon residents face every day. Using every opportunity and community event to gather support and spread their message of road safety awareness, this group continues to advocate on our behalf, volunteering their time, energy, efforts and research, all while Transportation Minister Sarkaria appears at a photo op with Premier Ford announcing speed limits on Ontario highways are being increased! The absolute irony of being in a road safety crisis and increasing speed limits cannot be overstated. It’s beyond belief.

After previously increasing limits on over 850+ kms of roadways, the province recently added an additional 938 kms of highways across the province to that list. Sarkaria claimed, “This work is critical to improve travel times for families, commuters and workers and will benefit millions of drivers.” Except of course when travel times are impeded by horrific accidents that regularly plague our roads and which, if happen at even higher speeds than already exist, will cause ever more grievous injuries.

Meanwhile it seems some of the only people paying attention to what’s happening, and who are trying to draw the attention of our federal and provincial leaders to this disaster (in addition to the CCRSA) are the Ontario Trucking Association. They have already filmed a documentary about their concerns and stepped up campaigns to call attention to road safety in general. Now, coming to Caledon in August to personally bear witness to what is happening here, is another film shoot, this one a documentary being made with the support of Federal MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval. The CCRSA will be included, sharing what’s happening locally with illegal truck yards and the many other related safety concerns that challenge our residents every time they leave their homes.

In summary, Caledon residents are at risk daily. So are many others across Ontario. The volunteers of the CCRSA spent their Canada Day advocating for change and educating residents who stopped by their booth. Premier Doug Ford spent it at his cottage, according to media reports, and Sarkaria was spotted at a photo op in Chingacousy Park.

Oh – and the legislature? They are on a 21-week break. Twenty-one weeks! Hope no one gets hurt on our roads in the meantime.