TORONTO, (Feb. 22, 2005) — The Ontario Liberals are cracking down on flying truck parts with sweeping changes to the Highway Traffic Act which includes fines for equipment operators and an extended pre-trip checklist.

If passed, the proposed Transit and Road Safety Bill will make flying vehicle parts from both commercial trucks and passenger vehicles a mandatory Highway Traffic Act offence. The provision automatically deems a vehicle unsafe if a part becomes detached on the highway, and would make vehicle owners and third parties who maintain the equipment, such as mechanics, responsible for any such incident. Fines for commercial trucks determined to be “unsafe” currently range from $400 to $20,000.

“Previously, the law was not as specific as it is now,” Danna O’Brien, assistant to Transport Minister Harinder Takhar, told Today’s Trucking this afternoon. “(Detached parts) was more broadly addressed under the definition of an unsafe vehicle. While the fines are the same, what we’ve done is make the offence more specific.”

The new law is apparently in response to a May 2004 traffic fatality in Toronto involving a flying truck part. In the accident, a 10-kg shoe from the base of a trailer’s landing gear flew off a truck and went through the front windshield of Fernando Martins’ car. Martins died of his injuries 10 hours later.

Ontario already has a zero tolerance policy for detached truck tires and wheels. Section 84.1(1) of the Highway Traffic Act denies carriers a defence of due diligence and automatically affixes guilt in the event of a wheel separation from a commercial vehicle. Carriers have challenged the law as being unconstitutional, bit were recently turned down by the Supreme Court of Canada. (In the Transit and Road Safety Bill, the government amended the provision to specify that wheels detached for the purpose of carrying out a roadside repair, do not apply to subsection 1).

The new bill, which will be introduced today at Queen’s Park, would also implement a new National Safety Code Standard that hikes a truck operators’ required pre-trip inspection checklist from 23 to 70 items.

Furthermore, the bill would also make it more difficult for carriers to arrange their own cleanup crew after a highway collision. Another proposed measure in the legislation would clarify police powers to remove vehicles and debris from the roadway while protecting themselves, the province the municipality from liability. Currently, police wait for owners to arrange for clean up. The province says some trucking companies, or their insurers, have insisted on sending a crew from hundreds of kilometers away, causing extended delays.

“About 60 percent of all delays on urban highways are the result of collisions, spills or other debris,” Transportation Minister Harinder Takhar said in a release. “Highway closures can cost up to $600,000 an hour. Businesses depend on just-in-time delivery. They simply cannot afford to wait hours for highways to re-open after a collision.”

Meanwhile, the government also plans to increase penalties for speeders. The bill would increase fines for those travelling more than 30 km/hr over posted limits, increase suspensions for those exceeding the limit by 50 km/hr or more, and more than doubles fines for those who speed in construction zones, through pedestrian walkways, and other high risk areas.

The fine for not stopping or yielding at pedestrian crossings will jump from $60 and no demerit points, to $150 plus three demerit points. Currently, there is no special fine for speeding in a construction zone. Now drivers will have to fork over between $90 and $180 for driving 20 km/h over in a construction zone area.