North Central Communities Examines Truck Issues

By 250 News

Logging truck traffic travelling through the heart of communities the focus of a working group

The North Central Municipal Association wraps up its  Conference and AGM in Ft. St, John  today, and one of the items creating activity is the formation of a working group to examine the issues connected with having logging truck traffic travel through the middle of  communities.  Mayors,  Councilors, and Regional District directors are members of the group, which represents communities along Highways 16 and 97 from  100 Mile House north.   The group will hold teleconference sessions with experts from Truck Safe to talk about the trucking issues.

Last year, 10 logging truck drivers died on the  job. 

Meantime, a new study in the United States indicates that when a big rig is involved in an accident,  it was the drivers behaviour that had more to do with the accident than anything else.

The study by the  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admininstration was commissioned to review the causes and contributing factors to crashes involving commercial vehicles.  The study concluded  drivers of large trucks and other commercial vehicles involved in truck crashes are ten times more likely to be the cause of the crash than weather, road conditions, or the condition of the vehicle.

The head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Annette Sandberg says the report  makes it clear that in addition to making sure vehicles are safe for the road “We need to spend more time addressing driver behaviour”  to that end, the FMCSA says it will examine driver factors such as use of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, speeding, fatigue, inattention, distractions, work environment, and unfamiliarity with the road .

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