The growing and illegal popularity of live broadcasts on social networks is now affecting the trucking industry, a trend that greatly worries road safety experts.
“It’s the perfect recipe for causing a fatal accident,” says André Durocher, director of the CAA-Quebec Foundation and former safety manager for a trucking company.
According to what was observed The Journal Over the past few days, several dozen Quebec truckers have regularly launched live broadcasts on TikTok while they drive. The phenomenon also affects drivers from other Canadian provinces, such as Ontario, whom we have seen driving on the roads of Quebec.
This Quebec trucker travels on the roads of Bas-Saint-Laurent and interacts with Internet users at the same time.
Photo of TIKTOK.
Almost all of them install their cell phones on a base and turn the camera towards the road where they are traveling. Some are live several times a day.
Most truckers then interact simultaneously with Internet users who leave comments. People ask, for example, where they are going or what they are carrying. The truckers then respond orally after reading the questions while driving.
“A little trip”
According to Wilfrid, a driver from Chaudière-Appalaches, he and his colleagues do it mainly to pass the time and to share the beautiful roads they see. The man, who preferred to withhold his last name, is the only one to have accepted our interview request.
This Quebec trucker drives around Saint-André, New Brunswick, chatting with someone on his live stream and interacting with Internet users.
Photo of TIKTOK.
“It’s like a little journey through the screen,” he says. Not everyone has the opportunity to see what we see.”
Although he is aware of the dangers, Wilfrid believes that live streaming is no more problematic than checking your GPS.
This is not the opinion of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec, who consider this practice illegal and very dangerous.
The use of TikTok while driving has also caused several deaths in the United States, notably in Arizona, where five people died in a violent pileup in 2023.
Benoit Therrien, a trucker at the head of Truck Stop Québec, a specialized media for the industry which reaches more than 200,000 members, strongly denounces this habit which is gaining popularity.
“I think it’s mainly for the glorification it brings,” says the man who is also a truck driver. To see the small number of listeners go up live, from 100, to 200, to 300, and to be able to shout everything you think, to have the impression that you are really important.
Difficult to intervene
But as with any distracted driving offense among truckers, it is very difficult for the authorities to intervene. Moreover, the SQ does not have a team that monitors this type of online behavior. It can, however, open an investigation following a citizen complaint, but ideally, a patrol officer must witness the offense in order to intervene.
“You have to set up in strategic places, at height, to succeed in catching them, and even there, it is difficult to see them,” explains Jean-Claude Daignault, president of the Brotherhood of Road Control Constables.
According to him, the government should crack down harder on distracted driving, in particular by adding more demerit points for an offense.
For André Durocher, the solution involves greater accountability of trucking companies.
“It has to be zero tolerance,” he says. It takes people monitoring truckers and, if we catch one on TikTok, it must be a dismissal.
What the Highway Safety Code says
Article 443.1: It is prohibited for any driver to use a cellular telephone or any other portable device designed to transmit or receive information or to be used for entertainment purposes.
Exceptions
If a hands-free is used (the screen is never consulted and is closed)
If it meets all of the following criteria:
- The device displays information relevant to driving (GPS)
- The device is integrated into the vehicle or on a base
- It does not obstruct the view/reduce the effectiveness of any equipment
- It is positioned for easy consultation
: live streaming on TikTok does not meet the exception criteria, since it does not display any information relevant to driving, according to the SQ.
Source: Road Safety Code
At a speed of 100km/h, looking at your screen for four seconds is the equivalent of crossing the distance of a football field with your eyes closed.
Source: SQ
