Commercial Road Check Concerns RCMP
Road safety checks near Mackenzie turn glare on commercial truck issues photo courtesy RCMP
Mackenzie, BC – Traffic road safety checks in the Mackenzie area this past week are setting off alarm bells – for what was discovered during the checks, and what wasn’t…
The multi-agency road safety initiative focused on Forest Service Roads and commercial vehicle safety and involved Mackenzie RCMP, Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement, Forestry Compliance and Enforcement, and Worksafe BC.
Of 35 vehicles checked by Worksafe over a two-day period, 33 were found to have more than 80 deficiencies. RCMP Corporal James Fayle says in several cases, the deficiencies had been discovered on the trucks in previous inspections, and remained outstanding.
Corporal Fayle says after one commercial vehicle had difficulty stopping for one of the road checks, it was discovered that the trailer brakes on the vehicle were not working at all. It was one of two commercial vehicles ordered off the road for inoperable brakes after CVSE inspections.
Meantime, a 47-year-old male driver is facing charges of obstruction after he failed to produce any identification at a road check, gave the officer a false identity and, then, turned out to be suspended from driving. Another 32-year-old man is facing drug-related charges after the smell of marijuana emanating from his vehicle tipped officers off at a road check on Highway 97.
In total, Corporal Fayle says 46 violation tickets were issued over the course of the traffic checks, including:
- 7 vehicle deficiencies
- 2 no drivers licenses
- 2 no insurance
- 1 open liquor
- 2 liquor seizures
- 2 90-day immediate roadside prohibitions handed out to drivers of domestic vehicles
- 1 driver found operating a vehicle with a suspended drivers license
- 1 prohibited driver
- 8 violations relating to commercial vehicle logs and permits
- 2 commercial vehicles were issued orders to attend a designated inspection facility
- 2 commercial vehicles pulled off the road for inoperable brakes
And while these stats are alarming, RCMP are equally concerned by an offshoot of the initiative. "During the road check, numerous commercial vehicles were parked and not used for business purposes by choice of the owners and/or operators," says Corporal Fayle.
"Approximately 73 trucks chose to stop their scheduled run and park, which was very concerning," says Fayle. "To take the loss of a day’s earnings in order to avoid being checked at a road stop is quite alarming."
Comments
Just the tip of an iceberg if you ask me.
More spot checks and the fines should go right back to head office. Umm isn’t smoking marijuana while driving an impaired charge?
Ah yes , the gentlemen of the highway .Time change tommorrow won’t affect these guys with any sleep related problems.A couple of fat ones , a few beer , turn up the Dave Dudly until you can’t think and give er .Its worked for years.
Far more than 35 vehicles were checked. They had road checks up since last Friday in the Pine Pass all week. More like 35 vehicles inspected would be closer to the truth. Hundreds of vehicles checked at the road stops, but not all would have been suspicious enough to inspect.
The worst offenders IMO tend to be the low bed and flat deck haulers. Irregular loads and running the log book with long periods between shop visits.
That said 7 deficiencies over a 7 day week probably isn’t all that high when one considers things happen on the road through the normal course of wear and tear.
Wow! This is actually worse than a report I read recently about US checks on Mexican trucks entering the US from Mexico with Mexican drivers.
73 trucks did NOT work because of the checks……how did he know this? That is a lot of trucks! My guess would be that these inspections were done during the day…..the mills are on night shift hauling right now. He probably went thru town and counted the trucks that were sitting during the day because they were hauling nights.
Time to check all vehicles not just trucks
These road checks should be done on a regular basis, not just a blitz once in awhile. Might save a life one day. I have heard of loggers being impaired by drugs or alcohol while on the job. Bad enough its on the job and then they get in their vehicles to go back home or to camp. Meanwhle innocent guys are trying to earn a living and are put in jeopardy by these idiots. Yes, the employers should be informed but of course there is fear of repercussion.
Good mourning ,my understanding is that the trucks that parked for the one night was because they where told the day before that their trailers with 10.5 foot bunks needed to have lights on them when in the past just running with flags on them was normal practice ,so if you are told [given a warning] the day before and you don’t have them all fixed to go to work the next night and get fined wouldn’t make sense .
Disgusting. If anything, this should encourage the police to do more of these kinds of checks until commercial drivers can get their act together.
How about a dedicated police force,much like the cvse for each form of employment to ensure safety in all we do.
The majority of truck drivers and companies run safe,however minor infractions safety related or not can result in a fine to the driver and or company.
When you get out of your armchair and go to your job, put some thought into what it would be like to have the government sneaking up on you to audit all you do.
The majority of any occupation is not by the book,but is carried out safely
You should see the road after they break these checks down, a whole whack of RCMP,DOT,conservation and worksafe vehicles all doing 120 km/h roaring down the highway racing to get back to town. Agree the cops were to daft to realize the trucks are on early shift and sleeping not hiding.
asphalt: “When you get out of your armchair and go to your job, put some thought into what it would be like to have the government sneaking up on you to audit all you do.”
Aww, too bad. But that’s what the public demands in terms of road safety. Especially when it can save lives.
Disgusting. If anything, this should encourage the police to do more of these kinds of checks until it is ensured JohnnyBelt et al pose no risk.
What are the stats on truck driver caused accidents? Very low would be my bet.
Who cares what the stats are.
Any accident that caused someone to lose their life because someone didn’t maintain their rig properly is one too many.
Mackenzie BC. No CVSE presence, no RCMP presence on the resourse roads, its a free for all gong show. Been there, will never do that again.
It is out of the way, the locals up there simply dont give a crap about the laws and regulations. They see CVSE once or twice a year, then its back to the hell hole. An MVI is purchased, not performed.
As a logger myself, I think that there should be two CVSE officers posted in Mackenzie and they should have their ticket books out day and night and clean that town up.
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