HUNTSVILLE, Ont. — “Truck inspections are like going to the doctor — it’s kind of scary,” says Emco driver Doug Moreau of Barrie, Ont., “You never know what to expect.”

At least doctors give out lollypops if you’ve been good.

Moreau and his straight truck were among a number of commercial vehicles pulled over for inspection last Friday just outside of Huntsville, Ont. as the Ministry of Transportation-OPP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Initiative 2006 was officially launched for another five-month season of increased patrols in northeastern Ontario.

You never know what you’re gonna get with truck
inspections, one trucker says

Today’s Trucking was on hand for the 10th annual joint inspection program. The blitz will run for a five-month period starting January 17, 2006 and concluding June 16, 2006.

Twelve inspection teams, pairing up one OPP officer and one MTO inspector, will be targeting the Highway 69 corridor from Mactier to Sudbury, Highway 11 from Huntsville to Hearst, Highway 17 from Mattawa to the Soo, as well as secondary highways within the area.

MTO enforcement coordinator John Ouellette says his mobile enforcement teams will be looking for hours-of-service violations, pretrip reports, as well as mechanical defaults such as “springs, tires, the stabilization part of the vehicle, lighting, etc. We’ll also be focusing on load security issues, any safety devices associated with vehicle, and axle and gross weights,” he says.

The initiative will also target aggressive drivers — both commercial and non-commercial — driver fatigue, and the safe transportation of dangerous goods.

In years past, Ouellette says the more common violations included faulty brakes; brakes out of adjustment or inoperative brakes; faulty or worn tires; broken suspension components; loose wheel fasteners, insecure loads, and HOS violations.

According to MTO spokesman Jeff Griffith, the northeastern Ontario MTO/OPP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Initiative was formed in response to a series of fatal accidents in the Kapuskasing, Kirkland Lake, and Cochrane area over a decade ago.

Since the initiative began a decade ago, fatal commercial vehicle collisions in the region have dropped by 30 percent, while there has been a 38 percent increase in the number of large trucks on provincial highways since 1988.

During the last nine years, over 15,000 commercial vehicles have been stopped while almost 3,000 have been inspected to ensure they are safe for the road. Of those, approximately 33 percent were removed from service due to a mechanical defect.