Never let the truth stand in the way of a good headline

"Rollovers plague vehicle"

That's the headline from The Toronto Star, talking about the Canadian LAVIII. Never mind that not even the text of the piece supports that position:

The army has examined the issue of LAV III rollovers in the past. A 2004 memo that looked at nine incidents concluded that four were related to driver experience and speed, while the others were caused by driving too close to the edge of the road. Rollovers have also been a problem with the Stryker, a very similar armoured vehicle used by the U.S. army in Iraq.

But Ottawa says the overall track record of the LAV III is a good one.

"The LAV III has collectively travelled approximately 6 million kilometres with a great service record. ... We've had twelve rollovers total," said Maj. Morrell.

Never mind that experienced soldiers have nothing but praise for the vehicle:

During an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press yesterday, retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie praised the LAV III, calling it an “outstanding vehicle.”

MacKenzie, most famous for his role as chief of staff for the United Nations’ protection force in Yugoslavia in 1992, said no other vehicle could manoeuvre the narrow, potholed roads that wind through the Kandahar region.

“I’ve driven on those roads, and it gives the term road a bad name,” said MacKenzie, who retired from Canadian Forces in 1993 after serving 33 years.

“It’s a 17-tonne vehicle, probably one of the best in the world, with a relatively top-heavy weapon system. But you go off those roads where there aren’t ditches, there’s just slopes and (it will roll).

“But this is the only piece of equipment, in my knowledge, that can do the job. It handles better than the other eight-wheel vehicles I’ve driven. It can survive mine strikes. You couldn’t convince me to say anything negative about it.”

...

MacKenzie said fatal collisions are tragic, but not surprising given the mayhem on the roads.

“It’s the worst bloody traffic I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“Combine that with — and I’m not accusing the Afghans of this but in every other mission I’ve been on — the locals occasionally trying to rub up against you or cause an accident so they can make a claim against (Canada).

“I really admire the Canadian leadership for restricting the number of incidents like this to a bare minimum. One is too many, but you are never going to totally eliminate it.”

The story isn't that the LAVIII is prone to rollovers, it's that Canadian troops are travelling in vehicles that have rolled only once every half a million kilometres performing some of the most dangerous and difficult driving imaginable, often in hostile conditions.

But try telling that to The Star.