Commercial vehicles found lacking

Wayne Moore - May 3, 2009 CASTANET:
Nearly 25 per cent of commercial vehicles inspected in the North Okanagan last week were taken off the road. Vernon RCMP set up shop for 12 hours on Highway 97 near Bailey Road on Tuesday. RCMP spokesman, Gord Molendyk, says 75 commercial vehicles were stopped and checked. He says 45 vehicle checks were issued, 27 violation tickets were handed out, 17 vehicles were taken completely out of service with four having a braking system that was not working. Molendyk says there could be a number of factors contributing to the high number of commercial vehicles failing inspections. He says some vehicles may be going in for service or getting to the end of the hauling season and are out for one or two more runs.

While not defending every truck operator on the road, Paul Landry, President and CEO of the B.C. Trucking Association, says out of service criteria does involve a wide-ranging series of safety related equipment, including brakes, windshields and lights as an example. He says if any of those components fails, the truck can be taken out of service. "In some cases, the truck operator may be warned or the operator will make the repair on the spot and be sent on his way," says Landry. "Put out of service means there is something that could lead to a crash. Often those problems can be solved at the roadside." Landry says out of service does not always mean the truck is patently unsafe. "Very few crashes are caused by faulty equipment. Something like five per cent are caused because of faulty equipment."

While Molendyk says economic factors could result in more trucks being taken off the road for safety issues, Landry believes that, while it would seem to make sense, he is not aware of that being a trend. "Good companies will maintain their vehicles regardless of the economy. A poorly managed company might feel they can defer maintenance in order to pay other expenses to continue to operate," adds Landry. He says the motoring public does not need to be alarmed. "What the public needs to know is there are excellent government standards in place that we completely support and there are good enforcement programs in place, such as the one you are describing. Sometimes the out of service rate tends to communicate the message a large number of trucks are in a gross state of disrepair and that is not the case."

Meantime, Molendyk says 129 private vehicles were also checked during the enforcement period. Of those, he says 19 were given orders to have specific items repaired on them. He says 52 speeding tickets and 13 warnings were handed out as well as tickets for 19 other traffic violations. One vehicle was impounded and one prohibited driver was caught. Molendyk warns motorists similar road checks will be conducted in the future.