Commercial Vehicles

Information regarding heavy commercial vehicles.

Significant Penalty Increase for Overheight Violations

Province of BC LogoThe provincial government has announced it's intent to implement a significant penalty increase for commercial vehicles involved in infrastructure collisions. A fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to 18 months could be faced by drivers of overheight loads that collide with an overpass.

Q&A - Tire Chains on Commercial Vehicles

commercial vehicle chain signThe last time we drove up the Coquihalla from Hope we saw that the plow trucks had not taken care to plow out the chain-up pull-outs for commercial trucks. How are these commercial drivers expected to put on their tire chains safely?

The trucks are all lined up along the right lane of the road, thus forcing regular traffic into one lane.

WEBINAR - Electronic Logging Devices & HOS Rules

Truck Tractor and TrailerThe Automotive Retailers Association, BCAA and the CVSE held a webinar on May 12, 2023 to inform the towing and recovery industry what the new regulations around electronic logging mean. They have published a YouTube video of the hour long webinar for public information. Karen Coverett from the Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure is a guest speaker.

Commercial Vehicles - Meeting a Wide Load

Pilot VehicleCould you do an article on wide commercial loads when a pilot car is used? The reason I am asking is that I almost got run down once when a wide load came over into my lane, oncoming, to swing wide in order to make a right turn. Understandable, except there was no warning because the pilot car had already made the turn and was nowhere in sight.

Heavy Truck Tip Overs

Truck TractorI've noticed something that concerns me in my travels lately, and that is the single long, narrow, curved tire marks that begin about two thirds of the way into a corner and end when the curve does. They don't appear in the traffic lane in the lateral position that one would expect of a vehicle travelling where it should either. These are weight shift marks and indicate a heavy transport truck on the edge of overturning.

CASE LAW - R v Zhang

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThe case of R v Zhang is an appeal in Supreme Court for three convictions in traffic court arising out of the provision of unlicensed passenger transportation services. Haiya Zhang was driving for Udi, a ride hailing service similar to Uber. He was not licensed under the Passenger Transportation Act, did not have the appropriate class of driver's licence and the vehicle he was using did not have a valid inspection certificate.

ICBC - Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT)

ICBC LogoSeptember 1, 2021 saw the implementation of a new website location and design for ICBC's driver training information. Of interest on the new site is information on teaching the new Class 1 driver Mandatory Entry Level Training known as MELT. There are already a number of driving schools that are offering MELT training and they can be found here.

Nominate the Driver

pointing fingerThe state of New South Wales, Australia has just tightened their rules on intersection safety camera violations. Companies were not nominating the drivers of their vehicles who were responsible for the violations as that state requires. This amounted to approximately 7,000 events that drivers were not held accountable for.