Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

Road Health Update

By 250 News

In the wake of the fatal accidents in the logging industry, expect to see speed limits posted on logging roads within three months.

There were 43 logging truck drivers killed in accidents last year, but what wasn’t reported is that 25 members of public also died in those accidents. Presenters reminded Board members there are 400 thousand kilometers of “logging” roads where there are no rules, no maintenance and no enforcement.

The information came in the form of an update to the Northern Health Board on developments following the Cross Roads conference of last October.

Northern Health has donated $60 thousand dollars to fund projects that will make a difference on Northern B.C. roads. The deadline for project ideas is February 10th and the projects will be selected by the first of March.

The authors of the Cross Roads report had initially presented 23 recommendations and action has already started on some of those suggestions for change, including:

• Chips trucks will have safety messages on their tarps
• Radio training plans in the works for logging industry
• Graduated licensing for commercial truck drivers in the works
• Increased attention to the health of commercial transport drivers including hours of work, safety training, seatbelt use nutrition and fatigue

According to presenters, we are only a few months away from having speed limits posted on those logging and “resource” roads. It was noted the demand on our highways is going to increase, with coal south of Quesnel, oil and gas in the north east, and other resource developments that will be moving to the west to the port in Prince Rupert.

The initial report was a collaborative effort of several agencies to help “paint a picture of the Motor Vehicle Crash issue in Northern BC.” Cross Roads started by pointing out, people living in Northern B.C. are two and a half times more likely to die in an MVA than their counterparts in other parts of the province. That translates into about 70 deaths a year within the Northern Health Region, or 46 more than the “expected” number.

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