Beaverly Residents Left Idling Over Brake Check
Mandatory brake check for commercial trucks eastbound on Hwy 16 at Beaverly
Prince George, BC – Residents in Beaverly have yet to receive word from the regional office of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on the future of a mandatory brake check for commercial trucks heading into Prince George on Highway 16 West.
At a public meeting held at the Beaverly Fire Rescue Hall last Wednesday evening, residents expressed a litany of concerns that mainly centred on safety issues associated with the check that went into effect this past winter. (click here for previous story)
MOTI’s Fort George District Regional Director, Mike Lorimer, admitted at the meeting that the ministry ‘fell down on the job’ in failing to consult with residents prior to the brake check going in and emphasized he had heard their complaints ‘loud and clear’. He promised to look into regulations surrounding closing the check temporarily, while regional district staff weighed the permanent options available.
So far, there’s been no word on a timeframe for any decisions. 250New’s call to Lorimer on Friday was not returned. Beaverly Community Association President Rhonda Girard had not heard back from anyone at the local office by late Friday afternoon. And Trudy Michaloski – the woman who spearheaded efforts to have residents’ concerns addressed – has not had her phone call or email to the District’s Acting Manager, Trent Folk, addressed.
Speaking to 250News yesterday, Michaloski says area residents have been phoning her looking for follow up and it’s extremely frustrating not to have anything to tell them. She lives directly opposite the brake check and is extremely fearful it’s going to take a death to have the issue addressed.
At her first meeting with MOTI officials in February to discuss those concerns, she presented a 274-signature petition opposing the brake check’s location, by a second meeting on April 5th, there were a total of 403 names on it. At last week’s first public meeting, approximately 90 people turned out – spending two hours detailing near-miss, head-on collisions and other safety hazards they feel are associated with the check.
Comments
The problem with this location is that its on an up hill when leaving, and then getting 60 tons rolling at highway speed can take all the way to the Blackwater Road. People get angry and do all kinds of crazy things when they get stuck behind a truck that takes for ever to get rolling again and has little chance to just let traffic pass as its bumper to bumper from PG to Vanderhoof at peak times. The crazy people will pull out and pass when unsafe on a good day, and display outright road rage at other times if they get stuck behind the slow going truck that pulls out ahead of them.
Clearly when requiring trucks to pull off for a brake check it should be done with acceleration and deceleration lanes… and ideally the exit should be to a downhill slope so as to minimize the inconvenience to other users of the road and the flow of traffic.
The carbon footprint cost of the current location negates the anti idling bi-laws in all of PG. Located at the top of Mud River hill west would allow for a quick re-entry to the hiway flow, and allow for the faster traffic to pass using the passing lane on the Mud River hill east breaking up the fast and slow traffic.
IMO someone should be accountable for such poorly thought out planning.
I find it interesting that when the Red Rock scales were opened allot of the hype was about it being green. Deceleration lanes were uphill, acceleration lanes were down hill, little need for brakes and very easy to get to highway speeds no matter what your load was.
Then some brilliant mind built that monstrosity out west. No thought went into it, the worst acceleration zone it could be been in unless they built it half way up mud river hill. People in cars have no idea that there is a slight incline all the way to Blackwater Road.
Poor, poor, poor.
The highway should be 4 laned from Mud River to the traffic lights at Gauthier Rd.
With a proper Brake Check Stop engineered into the design.
As they have predicted, people who know how to do quality work are going to be harder and harder to find.
MOTI’s Fort George District Regional Director, Mike Lorimer—I wonder if a potential lawsuit could head your way from a resulting accident from this recognized poorly thought out site. Culpability comes to mind.
Just wondering, anyone out there in the know?
“The problem with this location is that its on an up hill when leaving…”
Up a hill when leaving? If an engineer in private industry would design something like that he/she would be given the boot!
As a holder of a class 1 licence I have to agree with ealgeone that the brake check should have be located west on top of mud river hill. If you have made it down that hill you should already know if your brakes are working so not sure what having a mandatory brake check at the top of the next hill is accomplishing anyway. Yes going into PG is a long continuous down hill grade however you can have good brakes at the top and if you miss manage your speed and braking you could easily over heat and cause brake failure. That is the reason for brake checks to be located directly BEFORE a long steep down hill grade so commercial traffic starts off slow from the top of the hill and does not go into the decline at to high of speed. With that said the best place for a brake check from a safety prospective would have been right before or near the BonVoyage.
Also the three traffic lights going down the hill adding to the brake issue.
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