Commercial Vehicles

BC's Auditor General has released the report of an independent audit of commercial vehicle safety in our province. The audit looked at whether the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia and the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General have effectively managed their respective programs to promote the safe operation of commercial vehicles on B.C. roads.

Effective immediately, the rules governing the use of tire chains on commercial vehicles traveling on BC highways have been made more extensive and the penalties for failing to follow them are under consideration and will become more expensive later this winter.

CBC's Marketplace has produced a program on commercial driver licensing in Canada. Their driver earned his commercial driver's licence in Saskatchewan and then failed the test for the same licence category in Ontario. At issue is the varying level of skill necessary to obtain a commercial driver's licence across the provinces.

In what may be one of the ultimate Tonka toy dreams, I was lucky enough to participate in a training session where we were tipping heavy trucks over on purpose. The adventure, spearheaded by Eric Brewer, took place on a dormant runway at the Boundary Bay airport that is used by government agencies for driver training and collision reconstruction testing.

I am trying to get confirmation on the law regarding chain requirements for a BC commercial 55 passenger bus for winter driving.

The wording of the law is ambiguous. It states that school buses must carry chains and Commercial transport trucks must carry chains when driving on the highway, but that passenger vehicles are not required to carry chains.

Commercial drivers operating within a 160 km radius of their home base are not required to record their hours of service in a log book. However, they are still required to abide by the hours of service rules which, even with a log book, is not a simple task.

Once upon a time, there was a 33 year old guy in town, who decided he wanted to get a class 1 license. Since I have trucks, and my instructors certification, (albeit from...Alberta) he asked me if I would spend some time with him while he drove one of my trucks.

I ended up going out 4 times with him, 2 to 3 hours each time.

every week or so, I haul a load of dead fish to another town, in a 53 foot tanker. This trailer is loaded by the fish producers, then it is sealed, brought out to the highway, where I pick it up and begin my 3 hour trip to deliver.

I don't know if you drive much along Hammond Bay Rd, but it can be pretty frustrating on garbage day, or even morning commute on school days, with buses stopping very 100 - 200 yds.

I dread the new "automatic" garbage trucks which I think will take far longer to pick up cans and put them down using hydraulics, rather than arm power.

Harvey Truax stopped his empty B train combination on the shoulder of Highway 1 near Sorrento, B.C. He allowed the 4 vehicles that had been following him to pass by before he started to make a left turn across the highway into a pullout. His left signal was in operation and he had 300 to 400 m. of highway visible behind him. Finding no overtaking traffic, he began to move from the shoulder into the pullout across the highway.