Cops Say No Increase in Bad Commercial Truck Drivers
Recently there has been a number of crashes in which commercial trucks were involved. It prompted an inquiry to the RCMP who are responsible for highway and city enforcement of those drivers.
You would think that from what has happened of late that there is an ever increasing number of bad commercial vehicle drivers, but talk to the police and you get quite a different answer.
Yes they say, there may be more incidents involving commercial rigs such as the one earlier this week in a hit and run at the intersection of Fifth and the bypass, but according to them you have to put it all in prospective.
There has been a huge increase in truck traffic over the past decade according to police, combine that with an increase in the number of cars and trucks on the roads and that creates a recipe for more crashes.
According to the police , the bad drivers in commercial vehicles stand out more than the other traffic because of the size of the vehicle, and yes they say, there are some that use that size to their advantage.
So are we graduating more bad drivers from commercial drivers schools? Not so if you ask the police who get to see the driving habits of these operators in a different light and yet it seems that rarely a day goes by that we do not receive a complaint in our newsroom about a commercial truck driver.
I’m Meisner and that’s one mans opinion.
Comments
Ben… How come the silence on the chip truck hit and run on Feb 17th??? This is very serious, but nobody is talking about it. What’s your take.
I think Media tends to tread lightly when company or corporate incidents happen. Until official comments have been made by the company or all the facts are present anything printed could be considered slander.
I think mostly the issue is speed, I don’t see trucks being pulled over too often for speeding, but I do see them speeding – alot.
Take the Hart Highway – speed limit is 70 kms. If I do 80 kms, loaded logging trucks pass me. They are not just slowly passing me either.
This happens almost every morning.
” a huge increase in truck traffic over the last decade…combine that with an increase in number of cars and trucks..” Did we also increase Police and Traffic control/patrols? If not, more drivers, less police just mean less percentage of stopped vehicles, not the same amount of infractions noted. More drivers (of all types) mean more bad drivers. And as more “safety features” are added, people feel they become more bulletproof in their vehicles, hence drive with less caution and less to conditions. Ever notice on bad icy days, its usually the AWD (of 4wd)you see sticking out of the ditch? I would venture to say that there is an increase in bad driving, period.
I hope the driver of the hit pickup is recovering (could we get an update) and the book thrown at the commercial driver and that his/her license (all classes not just class 1) is gone for a long time (unless of course it was medical or mechanical, always possible, again an update would be good)
I agree with pansy. Just this morning I was coming up the hart in the right lane doing 80 km and an empty truck blew by me like I was standing still throwing crap everywhere. Then another one pulled out in front of traffic coming off noranda and proceeded to start racing with the other one. They were taking up both lanes until the one in the left lane because of momentum was able to pass the first one. Stupid driving anyway you slice it, whether commercial or not, but these guys are always yapping about how professional and good they are, but the proof is in the pudding.
Many trucking companies are using electronic tracking and logs now – any hard braking events and whoever is signed up for notifications gets an instant email. They can also set up speed alerts. If the driver goes 10 over it gets sent out on a daily report with the number of times and locations. Slowly I think all companies will go this route.
And like the cops say, I don’t think it’s happening more, I think the percentage is the same there’s just more traffic out there and it appears to happen more.
And nope probably not more cops. That’s just more taxes and we all know the uproar that will happen if taxes increase, even if it’s for safety.
I should add that the company I worked for was extremely concerned about driving safely and the drivers were all great guys who loved the job. Any speeding infractions were taken care of immediately with warnings and/or suspensions. All complaints were looked into and dealt with also. It’s a shame that more companies don’t seem to work this way.
When was the last time you heard of or witnessed a crashed loaded log truck that was caused by surpassing the posted speed limit pansy?
What do the cops say about an increase in bad non commercial drivers?
Dragonmaster; “When was the last time you heard of or witnessed a crashed loaded log truck that was caused by surpassing the posted speed limit pansy?” You’re joking right? Having made the trip north to the Pine Pass probably, oh, about at least 500 times (no exaggeration) I can tell you seeing loaded trucks in the ditch is a fairly common occurrence. Yes, some of these were due to bad conditions, but I can tell you after being blown by at mach 10 by a loaded truck only to see said truck in the ditch further down the road…well do the math. Just like any occupation there are good operators & bad operators, unfortunately for professional truck drivers the few bad ones stand out like a sore thumb & cast the rest in a bad light.
detoe44, I agree 100%!!
I also travel through the Pine Pass regularly and seldom do I see passenger vehicles in the ditch. However, logging trucks, chip trucks and other commercial trucks are often seen in the ditch!!
If it was once in a while, one might attribute it to bad road conditions, but when it’s as often as it is and it’s seldom passenger vehicles, one must assume that it is something other than road conditions!
Dragonmaster, why is it that the average Mom and Pop driving a passenger vehicle seems able to stay on the road, but many professional drivers seem unable to? Also, why do so many professional drivers drive down the middle of the road, instead of staying on their side of the centre line??
I put on more than my fair share of kilometres and while I seldom worry about the oncoming passenger vehicle, I am more often than not worried about the oncoming commercial vehicle, coming at me, hell bent for leather and straddling the centre line!!
Hart Guy
Unionize the whole trucking industry. Then they could get overtime. This might slow them down.
@ 8,
Thanks, it’s been a long day and I needed a laugh! Loved your comment, haha!
Peegee is on the right track. Some companies are already on this system… Canfor doesn’t like to pay for driver safety programs though, so they favor the companies based on cost alone (the less tracking the more competitive). Other than that though a lot of hyperbole going on about ‘transport trucks being in the ditch more than the four wheelers’ (its not even close, not even 20-1 from what I see).
The driver on the bipass… hard to figure how he could have left the scene not knowing what he was involved in… not a surprise considering the company and its track record, but jeez he sure puts a bad light on the industry with moves like that. It doesn’t sound like he will be getting the kid gloves though, so hopefully a lesson in integrity will be learned.
For what its worth, the dually skid marks from the accident at 5th pulled over in front of spruceland and then pulled back out and headed through tenth dragging. There is no way he “didn’t know” something happened.
I put on a ton of highway miles and you’re right Eagle, there are a lot of good drivers on the road. Chip trucks sure seem to be the bottom rung of the talent pool though.
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