West Vancouver roadside blitz finds nearly half of trucks checked unsafe
WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Nearly half of all the commercial trucks inspected at a West Vancouver roadside blitz Wednesday were ordered off the road for defects that police said should have been detected during the pre-trip inspection, according to a story published this week by the Vancouver Sun.
The safety check discovered that some trucks didn’t have brake fluid, some had bald tires or tires with loose nuts, and others were considered overloaded. Thirteen of the 30 trucks inspected were ordered off the road. These ranged from heavy trucks to smaller landscaping trucks. Police served 23 provincial violation tickets and 26 bylaw tickets.
Sgt. Tim Kravjanski of the West Vancouver police traffic section said he was disappointed by the number of trucks that failed the multi-agency blitz, which included police and inspectors from the provincial commercial vehicle safety and enforcement branch.
“Our current system isn’t a deterrent to these drivers and we need new tools to deal with this,” Kravjanski said, adding he is on two different committees aimed at tackling the problem. “One of the things that is being looked at is the ability to impound repeat offenders.”
B.C. Trucking Association president Paul Landry said maintaining a vehicle is a key part of the business.
“From our perspective if you can’t maintain your vehicle; if you can’t keep it in a safe state of repair; then you shouldn’t be in the business,” he said. “People like that just cause disruption and difficulty for other hard-working compliant people in the trucking industry.”
Staff Sgt. Manj Kaila of the RCMP’s integrated road safety unit responsible for the Greater Vancouver region said it seems like some drivers are delaying repairs.
“We are finding faults which (the driver) might have thought was minor,” Kaila said. “It still surprises me.”
Each year more than 500,000 commercial vehicles are inspected, said Dave Crebo of the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
“The province is going to continue to work with the police and other agencies to ensure the roads are safe,” Crebo said.
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