Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Seven commercial motor vehicles were taken off the road during surprise inspections held at Napanee’s Strathcona Paper Centre on Friday.
Conducted by Lennox and Addington OPP and the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) and the OPP Traffic Management Enforcement (TIME), Operation Safe Driver Campaign saw large vehicles stopped on roads throughout the county and directed to the SPC parking lot for an on the spot check-up.
A total of 17 different vehicles were inspected, meaning just over 40 per cent were taken off the road due to safety concerns. One driver was issued a three-day suspension for registering above zero blood alcohol concentration at the roadside. A total of 16 charges were laid for various safety and equipment violations or for failure to comply with commercial vehicle documentation requirements.
“We’re focusing on the fitness of vehicles,” said L&A OPP detachment commander Insp. Scott Semple. “Making sure brakes work, tires are good, if they’ve got loads on it making sure everything is tied down properly. Not everybody that comes in here is going to be not compliant. We’re just watching for commercial vehicles, they come in and we do an inspection. If the vehicle is determined to be unfit, they might be able to fix the problem immediately or we’ll end up pulling the plates off of it until it can pass a proper safety.”
Along with the vehicles the officers were checking driving logs to make sure operators were obeying laws that prevent them from driving too long without taking a break. Drivers were also required to produce papers to prove they were up to date and licensed to drive commercial vehicles.
“The majority of the collisions that we investigate involving commercial motor vehicles are transport,” said Semple. “I would say one of the leading causes of collisions is inattentive drivers that are either fatigued or distracted by phones, screens or they’re just not paying attention which is problematic, especially when you have queue build ups on the 401.”
Semple says while officers are always on the lookout for unsafe vehicles, they’re really ramping up their focus on large trucks in light of some alarming statistics.
“We’re going to start doing these campaigns on a more regular basis because we’re seeing an increase in the number of fatal crashes involving commercial motor vehicles,” said Semple. “So far in 2021 we’ve had 32 fatal crashes in the province involving commercial motor vehicle. That’s up from 23 the same time frame last year, so that’s a considerable increase. We’re also seeing 2,956 commercial motor vehicle involved crashes, that’s up nine per cent from 2020 and 13 per cent of all collisions in OPP areas are commercial motor vehicles.”
Semple noted a collision with a transport doesn’t have to be fatal to be life altering. The sheer size alone means the chance for a major injury is extremely high.
“The outcome is going to be very poor primarily for that passenger vehicle which could be carrying your family or my family and that’s not something that we will tolerate,” said Semple. “If you are a commercial driver or you own (a truck company) our expectations are that you maintain it and obey the rules of the road.”
Fines start at $240 per infraction and can add up quickly with multiple infractions. Charges can also be laid against either the driver or the company.
“So far this morning we had one that was taken out of service so that repairs could be made, it was missing a bolt to hold down the trailer pintle,” said L&A OPP Cst. Scott Woodburn. “One bolt as opposed to two, if that broke away we’d now have an about 6,000 kilogram compressor coming down the road all by itself.”
OPP officers and other enforcement bodies will continue to target unsafe motor vehicles and driving behaviours that contribute to the crashes that continue to kill people on Ontario’s highways.