ICBC extends ‘FIT’ truck-inspection program

VANCOUVER (Nov. 26, 2001) — For the third year in a row, the Insurance Corp. of British Columbia’s Focused Inspection Team program (FIT) will conduct province-wide, unannounced inspections of heavy trucks and other commercial vehicles.

The FIT inspections supplement ICBC’s Commercial Vehicle Inspection Program (CVIP) and help both to educate commercial vehicle operators and to enforce compliance. The FIT program targets commercial vehicles that do not typically visit weigh scales and monitors CVIP’s mandatory inspections.

Vehicles with defects that could contribute to a crash are removed from the road until the defect is repaired.

Owners and drivers of defective vehicles may be fined, and, if necessary, their vehicles are removed from the road until repairs are complete. Drivers’ licenses and logbooks are also checked, and unqualified drivers are removed from the road.

Last year, the FIT program targeted for inspection a total of 2574 commercial vehicles. Of these, 609 (23.6%) were removed from the road until the potentially dangerous defects were repaired.

Based on the findings of previous FIT campaigns, ICBC said this year’s campaign will focus on load security, brakes, and lights and will target dump trucks, logging trucks, taxis, trucks carrying dangerous goods, and trucks that do not typically report to weigh scales.

For information, call ICBC at 1-888/775-8785.