Not one single inspection station open between GTA and Manitoba border
Ontario highway seem “safe” from the House of Commons, Trucker says
Travis McDougall of Truckers for Safer Highways used his own experience to illustrate safety issues on Ontario’s northern highways at a November 23rd press conference.
“We’ll use my last trip here in Ontario was as an example to start with. I drove across Northern Ontario into Manitoba and from the GTA, and I never encountered one open functioning inspection station or scale.
“There are inspection stations in North Bay, Cochrane, Thunder Bay, Vermilion Bay, as well as several other locations, and that’s along Highway 11. There used to be a location in Hearst, but it’s blocked with concrete barriers now,” McDougall said, noting that while North Bay is one of the more frequently open stations, it is still not open enough.
“On this specific trip, which is a pretty good example of a regular trip for a truck driver across Northern Ontario, they’re all closed, every one of them. I never went through one open scale or inspection station until I reached the Manitoba border. At which point, once I crossed into the Manitoba side, there’s a scale there known as West Hawk. That scale was open; I drove over it and carried on with my trip.”
McDougall believes that some commercial Truck drivers, realizing they are highly unlikely to be stopped at a scale, take chances by driving with loads which are heavier than permitted or trucks which would not pass inspection.
“Many of these inspection stations that could be used as tools for the Ministry of Transportation to enforce and, and require and inspect for the rules that we are required to follow…. this is a pretty significant problem, and we’re seeing these the results of this. For instance, last year the OPP reported a 40 per cent increase in collisions involving commercial vehicles.
“We’re on the verge of winter, in fact, winter in Ontario is here already. And we have already seen significant road closures in northern regions due to serious collisions, like the one we saw last night or yesterday through the day yesterday North Bay, which closed a major run of the Trans Canada Highway for a lengthy period of time.”
McDougall notes that while roads unsafe for Truck drivers mean they do not have a safe work environment, it also means regular daily road users do not have safe roads to travel.
“Even though the Minister of Transportation, both the previous minister and now the current one, have said that Ontario has some of the safest highways in Ontario.
“It is our feeling is that that’s easy to say from the House of Commons. But when you’re the one on the highway driving these highways, there is no way you can strongly agree with that or even feel that that is remotely true,” he says. “Subpar training standards are creating dangerous situations for drivers entering the workforce. They are not equipped to thrive and create a good job and be safe.”
McDougall closed his remarks by noting “We’d like to commend member Guy Bourgouin on introducing Chad’s Law as a private member’s bill. There’s absolutely no reason whatsoever that the government should not adopt this law. It makes sense. Almost every other jurisdiction around Ontario, south and north of Ontario makes it illegal to pass our double solid line yet on Ontario has not done so.”
Road Warrior News has contacted the office of Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria for comment on the government’s position on supporting and adopting Guy Bourgouin’s bill. At time of this posting, no response has been received however, RWN will update this article with new information as it is received.
