Halton Region blitzes park 44% of inspected trucks
The Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) continued to crack down on unsafe trucks this week, with a three-day blitz Aug. 19-22 that saw 44% of inspected trucks placed out of service.
HRPS coordinated with the OPP and Ministry of Transportation on the blitz, which focused on a different city or town within the Halton Region for each of the three days.
Eighty-two Level 1 inspections were conducted, with 36 commercial vehicles placed out of service. Six sets of licence plates were seized, 160 provincial offence notices were issued, two written warnings were given and two court summonses were handed out.
“These results speak for themselves in terms of both the need and effectiveness of these campaigns to identify and remove unsafe or unfit commercial motor vehicles from our roadways. We will continue these similar efforts to keep our roads as safe as possible,” said Staff Sgt. Ryan Smith, Traffic Services Unit.
The same enforcement agencies will be participating in Brake Safety Week, which runs from Aug. 24-30.
“CMV Drivers and Operators are reminded to ensure proper daily/pre-trip inspections are completed so that defects can be detected and repaired before their trucks hit the road,” HRPS warns.
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The 44% of all inspected trucks is very misleading and does not really make an intelligent comment. The real question is how many trucks were flagged on because the inspectors thought that they looked okay. Then out of the total number of trucks, what was the percentage of those that failed road safety standards. It could have been 1% or 5% of 20%. Who knows without the knowledge of the total number of trucks. 44% is just sensationalism and a trucking publication should be above that.
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read the story, 82 inspections, 36 OOS
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I read the story, but what it doesn’t say is how many trucks were just flagged on and not given an inspection. So what this could mean is that the inspectors predetermined unsafe trucks and directed them in for an inspection. So let’s say 720 trucks were brought in, 82 actual inspections were done and 36 were deemed unsafe, that means 5% failed. But we don’t know that there were 720 trucks and that is the whole problem with saying 44%. It’s just not a truly representative number.
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Carriers with ongoing repeat safety and maintenance violations need to have their carrier licenses suspended and the owners clearly identified so they can not simply open up another operation under a different name.
What does one say in response to this?
How can the industry defend itself after headlines and statistics like these?
Can we differentiate trucking from locally focused, non-trucking companies that have commercial vehicles running around? I think it’s a reasonable disconnect, but at the same time, a commercially plated vehicle is a commercial vehicle, and I think that a lot of companies don’t understand their responsibilities surrounding operating a commercial vehicle. A pickup pulling a waste roofing material trailer is still a commercial vehicle. It doesn’t appear that owners and their staff who operate these vehicle understand what that means. But whose fault is that? Who has responsibility to ensure that these operators understand what it means to operate a commercial vehicle?
Trucking, generally, seems to have a clear understanding, but statistics like this and some recent similar findings from inspections in other major centers shows that that guy running around locally, delivering e-commerce goods or whatever, does not understand they need to do about ensuring the vehicle is safe before hitting the road. It’s apparent that there needs to be better education around this segment of the industry.