Windsor Ontario - Each week, hundreds of oil tanker railway cars roll though downtown Windsor.
 
I see them from my home.
 
The Railway Association of Canada estimates that as many as 140,000 carloads of crude oil will be shipped on Canada's tracks this year, up from 500 carloads in 2009.
 
Much of that increase is from oil produced in the Bakken oil patch in North Dakota and surrounding areas.
 
The train that crashed in Quebec was carrying oil from North Dakota to a refinery in New Brunswick, Canada.
 
Did you know that a dangerous design flaw exists in a rail car commonly used to haul oil and other hazardous liquids from coast to coast?
 
The soda can-shaped car, known as the DOT-111, has come under scrutiny from safety experts because of its tendency to split open during derailments and other major accidents.
 
Defects in the car's structure were noted as far back as 1991.
 
The DOT-111 tank car represents more than two-thirds of the rail fleet carrying crude oil.
 
The Associated Press reported in September that the DOT-111 tank car has been allowed to haul hazardous liquids from coast to coast even though transportation officials were aware of the design flaw.
 
The AP had reviewed 20 years of federal rail accident data involving DOT-111 cars used to haul ethanol and found that the cars had been breached in at least 40 serious accidents since 2000.
 
In the previous decade, there were just two breaches.
 
Why is DOT-111 still rolling past my home?
 
Why is oil from North Dakota worth risking the lives of my family?
 
Have we not learned anything from the recent U.S. experience of no regulation, deregulation, and lack of oversight?
 
Who is saying "yes" to DOT-111 in 2013?
 
And, why?
 
Warren Cosford.