[Newsbot]

Title: Commercial Trucks Fail Spring Blitz
Category: Law & Order
Posted By: Choban
Date: 2011-05-13 09:03:16
Canadian

[Choban]

I have a big problem with this.
It's spring, and in all provinces the DOT is conducting what we call the Spring Blitz, they setup on roads around the province and pull commercial vehicles into inspections, at which point they either pass them, report minor repairs needed or pull them off the road.
My issue isn't so much with the actual blitz, it's nessessary to keep commercial vehicle owners honest about their maintenance programs, I do however have issue with them reporting on the results and unfairly portraying the Transportation Industy.
I have issue with this because there is no valid inspection process for regular vehicles on the roads. In Alberta if you buy a vehicle under 12 years old you don't even need ot safety it to get insurance/registration, there are tons of non-commercial vehicles on the roads today that if they did bother to pull roadside inspections on would be pulled off the road.
So while the portray commercial operators as "unsafe" and smear them all over the papers, there are 1000's of drivers in vehicles that are just as or more dangerouse than the majority of the commercial vehicles on the road.
Just my 2 cents.

[andyt]

Yes, we should bring back safety inspections for cars. But still, I'd rather get hit by a brakeless Yugo than get a load of hot tar dumped on me by an out of control dumptruck, as happened here a while back. We were getting a lot of truck runaways as Sikhs took over the industry and applied their back home standards of maintenance to the trucks. Haven't heard so much lately, I guess because the province clamped down.

[Choban]

andyt andyt:

Yes, we should bring back safety inspections for cars. But still, I'd rather get hit by a brakeless Yugo than get a load of hot tar dumped on me by an out of control dumptruck, as happened here a while back. We were getting a lot of truck runaways as Sikhs took over the industry and applied their back home standards of maintenance to the trucks. Haven't heard so much lately, I guess because the province clamped down.

Like I said, the Blitz is nessessary, I just don't agree with the headlines the papers create about them, this story was the first one on the Heralds Website first thing this morning.

As far as the Indo-Canadian operators, a big scam here is that they have their "mechanics" who are their cousins/brothers ect. They do their yearly CVIP (commercial vehicle inspection permit) with them and the truck passes regardless of issues, then they are on the road, there has been a big push to make sure these vehicles are in fact safe. All of my drivers are owner ops, they own their trucks and work them for us, we have them do their CVIP's in OUR shop at a reduced rate and we do not pass them if they are unsafe.

I'd like to state than not a single one of my tractors (I had 15 stopped yesterday for inspection) was pulled off the road. Most of my drivers are Indian.

[EyeBrock]

In our region, about 35-40% of comm. vehicles inspected are pulled off the road. I'm sure it's the same all over the GTA.

[Choban]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

In our region, about 35-40% of comm. vehicles inspected are pulled off the road. I'm sure it's the same all over the GTA.

Thoses #'s are huge no doubt. Now whats your best guess that if they ran the same program for personal vehicles

[andyt]

Choban Choban:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

In our region, about 35-40% of comm. vehicles inspected are pulled off the road. I'm sure it's the same all over the GTA.

Thoses #'s are huge no doubt. Now whats your best guess that if they ran the same program for personal vehicles

I would be very surprised if cars came in that high. But in part that would be because the standards aren't as severe fro cars. Taxis, on the other hand... But if passenger vehicles were that unsafe, I think we'd hear a lot more about crashes caused by mechanical failures. Cars just aren't worked as hard as commercial vehicles, and most owners are responsible enough to maintain them properly - they don't lose income if they take them in for maintenance.

[EyeBrock]

Well, I think it would be significantly lower. Most traffic stops are cars/vans. Tickets are issued for any offences revealed. And as andy mentioned, the risks presented by a car over say a dump-truck are totally different stories.

I'd hate to hazard a guess at cars unfit for the road but what I do know is that there are an awful lot of heavy, commercial vehicles that pose a threat to everybody on the road, we have the stats.

Hence most GTA police agencies having specialist enforcement units targeting commercial vehicles. If there was the same jeopardy posed by cars and vans resources would be allocated to that issue so I'm deducing that big fuck-off trucks unfit for the road pose more of a risk than andy's 12 year-old Yugo.

Oh and I agree, there is an ethnic fraud angle very prevalent in this industry.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

Choban Choban:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

In our region, about 35-40% of comm. vehicles inspected are pulled off the road. I'm sure it's the same all over the GTA.

Thoses #'s are huge no doubt. Now whats your best guess that if they ran the same program for personal vehicles

I remember when they used to have one. Saw the cops literally lift the body off of a pick up with their bare hands.

[martin14]

They do them year round in Italy, just riding around and you can see
occasionally a bunch of trucks being hauled over.


In Europe all road cars get first inspection after 4 years, every 2 after that,
and annually for anything over 10 years old.
Bikes too.

[Caelon]

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

In our region, about 35-40% of comm. vehicles inspected are pulled off the road. I'm sure it's the same all over the GTA.

The inspections are not entirely 'random' as the officers target the vehicles that look like they may have a problem. The failure rate is skewed to the sample group as opposed to the general industry.

The problem facing the commercial industry is the differences between the long haul and local fleets. Long haul trucks pass the scales daily and are subject to frequent inspections. An out of service can be a burnt out light, one brake out of 10 or more exceeding the travel limits and many more minor items that John Doe and his RV would consider inconsequential on their own vehicle. Many fleets that have strong maintenance and inspection programs almost never have a vehicle categorized as out of service.

Urban fleets, which cover everthing from landscapers to pick up and delivery units never cross a scale and so are not subject to random safety checks. This group has the highest rate of not conducting daily pre and post trip inspections. Many of the urban commercial vehicles can be driven with a class 5 and training on the differences between the family car and commercial vehicle most likely never happened. Most of these companies use the vehicles as a means of conducting their business (roofers, plumbers, land scapers, etc) as compared to the long haul fleets where the vehicle is the core of the business. The urban group is also least likely to be members of the provincial trucking association where they would have access to driver and safety training.

For the average person they see the two groups as one so any bad press tars the whole group. In Alberta they did a study on accident rates. The absolute lowest accident rate of any kind of vehicle (including family cars) over a four year period was with the long combination highway trucks and in that group the lowest rate was with the Rocky Mountain Double configuration. One of the accidents was when the driver of a car swerved into the trailer of the truck. Not the truck drivers fault, but it still counted against the group in the study statistics.

[Choban]

$1:

The absolute lowest accident rate of any kind of vehicle (including family cars) over a four year period was with the long combination highway trucks and in that group the lowest rate was with the Rocky Mountain Double configuration.

Thats because of specialized licenses/permits and hits on the copmpany profie for any infractions be it overweight-speed-or a light out, these drivers/companies take their jobs very seriously and watch their profiles like hawks, there is a huge drawn out process to get your LCV permits back if you lose them for any reason and your subject to DOT/External audits for years afterward.

[Choban]

$1:

I'm deducing that big fuck-off trucks unfit for the road pose more of a risk than andy's 12 year-old Yugo.

True, my beef is more with the news reported as opposed to the inspection practices.

[Caelon]

Choban Choban:

$1:

The absolute lowest accident rate of any kind of vehicle (including family cars) over a four year period was with the long combination highway trucks and in that group the lowest rate was with the Rocky Mountain Double configuration.

Thats because of specialized licenses/permits and hits on the copmpany profie for any infractions be it overweight-speed-or a light out, these drivers/companies take their jobs very seriously and watch their profiles like hawks, there is a huge drawn out process to get your LCV permits back if you lose them for any reason and your subject to DOT/External audits for years afterward.

I agree and that is part of the point I was trying to make in a long winded way. The long haul group are subject to frequent and rigid inspections and as a consequence are safer than many other vehicles on the road. They are one of the most highly regulated industries in the country.

Still the annual safety blitz will show a 20 to 30% failure rate. The blitz always covers urban situations and catches a lot of the companies that use trucks in conducting their core business. The enforcement group have limited rewources, but I wish they could have more frequent inspections with this group to improve the overall safety of the industry.

[EyeBrock]

Caelon Caelon:

EyeBrock EyeBrock:

In our region, about 35-40% of comm. vehicles inspected are pulled off the road. I'm sure it's the same all over the GTA.

The inspections are not entirely 'random' as the officers target the vehicles that look like they may have a problem. The failure rate is skewed to the sample group as opposed to the general industry.

The problem facing the commercial industry is the differences between the long haul and local fleets. Long haul trucks pass the scales daily and are subject to frequent inspections. An out of service can be a burnt out light, one brake out of 10 or more exceeding the travel limits and many more minor items that John Doe and his RV would consider inconsequential on their own vehicle. Many fleets that have strong maintenance and inspection programs almost never have a vehicle categorized as out of service.

Urban fleets, which cover everthing from landscapers to pick up and delivery units never cross a scale and so are not subject to random safety checks. This group has the highest rate of not conducting daily pre and post trip inspections. Many of the urban commercial vehicles can be driven with a class 5 and training on the differences between the family car and commercial vehicle most likely never happened. Most of these companies use the vehicles as a means of conducting their business (roofers, plumbers, land scapers, etc) as compared to the long haul fleets where the vehicle is the core of the business. The urban group is also least likely to be members of the provincial trucking association where they would have access to driver and safety training.

For the average person they see the two groups as one so any bad press tars the whole group. In Alberta they did a study on accident rates. The absolute lowest accident rate of any kind of vehicle (including family cars) over a four year period was with the long combination highway trucks and in that group the lowest rate was with the Rocky Mountain Double configuration. One of the accidents was when the driver of a car swerved into the trailer of the truck. Not the truck drivers fault, but it still counted against the group in the study statistics.

I don't think any agency would have the resources to do a random check on every vehicle but this is weighbridge stuff on the QEW or on the major routes. I agree that the figures represent officers being able to select vehicles that appear to look in need of inspection.

The fact remains that a huge number of commercial vehicles on our roads pose a danger to the drivers and others.