B.C. inspectors target dump trucks during eight-month blitz

VANCOUVER, (March 25, 2004) — British Columbia transportation safety officials have launched a province-wide inspection blitz on dump trucks, B.C. Solicitor General Rich Coleman announced yesterday.

The eight-month crackdown — which takes dump trucks off the highway for maintenance problems and fines companies with poor safety records — is a reaction to several recent dump truck accidents throughout the province.

While transport truck safety has improved overall, statistics show dump truck safety and maintenance is disproportionately worse compared to the rest of the industry, Coleman told the Canadian Press as enforcement officials checked the vocational trucks at an inspection area on Highway 1 in West Vancouver.

“These guys are not paying attention to the law,” Coleman told reporters.

Yesterday, a report published by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation — and sponsored by the Railway Association of Canada — indicated that two-thirds of Canadians perceive there is a problem among Canadian truck drivers in regards to fatigue and drug use.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance strongly criticized the report, calling it “biased” and, considering the sponsor, a “deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of the trucking industry.” CEO David Bradley also questioned weather respondents were made aware of the latest government and industry statistics that show fatigue-related accidents and drug use among truck drivers represent lower than one per cent of the industry.

— with files from Canadian Press