"Automobile accidents represented the largest single source of social costs. Researchers determined that a Canadian life was worth about $4 million on average, based on insurance and court settlements, and that fully disabling accidents cost an average of $260,000. Altogether, road accidents accounted for an estimated $16 billion in social costs in 2000, compared with just $370 million for accidents involving planes, trains and boats combined. Road congestion (measured in terms of productive time lost) and air pollution on the roads cost another $5 billion each, while greenhouse gases emitted by road vehicles cost $3.7 billion, based on a carbon-trading market price of $29 a tonne. Noise costs, difficult to estimate, were pegged at just $220 million.
Air, marine and rail modes accounted for just a fraction of social costs. The worst impact of aircraft was in greenhouse gases emitted, calculated as costing almost half a billion. The worst impact in the rail and marine sectors was air pollution, also calculated at about a half billion each. Transport 2000's David Jeanes was consulted throughout the study and praised the results. "I have been quite impressed at the care taken in the analysis. We urgently need this 'level playing field' information for governments to make intelligent decisions about investment among the various modes (of transport). It has been a very challenging exercise and cannot be absolutely complete and perfect, but I think the report is a good one," Canadian Press reported on Sept. 1.
To view the report, visit: http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/aca/fci/menu.htm
"Romano used the Swissair settlement money from her husband's death to create the International Aviation Safety Association in March 1999. She has spent the better part of the last decade advocating for improved safety standards on board aircrafts," Metro reported on Sept. 2.
Romano addressed Transport 2000's Air Passenger Safety Group's 1999 Conference on aircraft wiring.
"Transport Canada's Merlin Proust: "The high-risk material have been removed, materials have been removed. The ones that are lower risk, which are the ones that are implicated by some of these tests have been identified and we've made sure that they aren't being used where they could end up causing us problems with respect to fires as an example."
Transportation Safety Board: Mark Clitsome: Well, they have a different method of assessing the risk than us," CBC News reported on Sept. 1.
The TSB made 23 recommendations based on its findings, and yet 10 years after the crash, 18 have an "active" status. This means the board is still trying to solve a particular safety issue, and tracking regulators and manufacturers that haven't followed its recommendation.
"SMS (Safety Management Systems), the shorthand Transport Canada uses to describe its new approach, makes the aviation industry responsible for implementing systems designed to ensure safe air travel in Canada. Under the concept, the federal department will do fewer direct safety audits of air carriers, instead keeping watch over safety checks done by the airlines themselves.
Mike Wing, national president of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees said: "This is about changing the type of inspection that we do," he said. "We're going to be primarily just taking a look at safety management. There will be much fewer specialists in the system. There will be people trained on SMS and things to look for in safety management systems, but it doesn't mean that those people have got the technical background that the inspectorate has traditionally had to ensure safety." CBC News reported on Sept. 1.
Transport 2000 opposes the legislation to implement SMS, C-7, which is currently before the House of Commons.
The announcement was welcomed by the usually critical Transport 2000 lobby group. "It's great news," said local spokesperson Normand Parisien, adding two important heads of the group were even present at the conference. "It took a few years," he said, but generally the group was happy AMT was moving toward more environmentally friendly modes of transport.
"We're in a hurry for this (electric transport), we need it," he added. Parisien said this should mark the beginning of a complete electrification of the rail network," the The Chronicler reported on Aug. 27.
The same day the Globe and Mail reported: "A confidential draft plan for combatting commuter congestion in the Toronto region calls for spending $55-billion over 25 years on a network of new subway and light-rail lines, improved commuter rail, express bus routes and longer and wider roads. The blueprint, drawn up by Metrolinx, the provincial transportation agency, also promises to set up a political fight between Mayor David Miller - who sits on the agency's board - and the province. The Metrolinx plan runs against the mayor's signature Transit City light-rail plan by calling for what the TTC has warned would be a prohibitively expensive subway-like transit line on Eglinton Avenue."
"The proposed route parallels the CN mainline from Halifax to Truro, N.B. and Montreal used by VIA's Ocean and CN freights up to 2 miles long. This line was double track until a few years ago when commuter rail was rejected by Halifax municipal planners as too expensive for a metropolitan area of 400,000 people, even though much of the population was clustered along the fully signalled, double track rail line. Rolling stock was proposed to be rebuilt VIA RDCs from Industrial Rail Services in Moncton, NB. About twelve stops were proposed for the service between Beaverbank on the Windsor & Hantsport branch (3 miles) and another 16 double track miles into downtown Halifax. The route would have served 3 universities, several shopping centres and the VIA station in south end Halifax where transit buses or light rail would lead deeper into the downtown core. This service still receives support from many transit advocates in Metro Halifax, much to the frustration of city planners and policy-makers. The opportunity was essentially lost when Halifax rejected the idea and CN tore up much of its second track," Transport 2000's John Pearce reports.