Fatal accidents in Canada: is privatisation to blame?

At the beginning of February, three people were killed by vehicles removing snow in Montreal, Canada. They were all accidents, but voices are being raised against the privatisation of the snow removal services, which means that heavy demands are placed on subcontract workers to reach their targets.
For almost half of its snow removal operations, the City of Montreal relies upon subcontracted companies; the other half is accomplished by its own workers, many of them members of SCFP 301, a branch of PSI's Canadian affiliate CUPE. The transport of snow away from the city, however, is almost entirely private. Whereas the city workers are paid an hourly wage, the private contractors are paid by volume of snow removed. If they don't meet snow removal targets, subcontractors can be fined up to $10,000.
This is pushing independent truck drivers to work up to 24 and even 36 hours straight. The subcontractors are determined to escape the penalties for failing to meet their snow removal targets and the drivers, who receive little if any pay when there is no snow to clear, try to maximize their earnings when work is available.
The first accident on the morning of 3 February happened at 9:40. The truck driver had started his shift at 20:00 the night before.
Accidents, yes, but could they have been avoided?