During BC’s largest commercial vehicle check from May 7-9, the Delta Police Department (DPD) was joined by police and enforcement officers from across the Lower Mainland, targeting 378 vehicles for full inspections, and of those pulling 160 off the road.
With Delta being a thoroughfare to both the ports of Vancouver and the U.S. border, it is no surprise that Delta has some of the highest numbers of commercial vehicles on its roads each day. That’s why the DPD places a high emphasis on truck and commercial vehicle safety, with a large scale annual blitz such as the one that took place last week. In addition to the annual blitz, DPD also has monthly checks, and regular daily enforcement to ensure that unsafe vehicles are taken off the road.
“The majority of the issues that our officers find are tire defects, braking problems, or cargo that is not properly secured.” Says Cst. Ken Usipiuk, DPD traffic unit. “One of the highlight’s of this year’s check was an unsafe trailer that turned out to be stolen, with stolen plates.”
Drivers were issued 174 violation tickets during the 3 days, with average tickets ranging from $109 to $311. However a number of drivers were unfortunately issued $598 tickets for failure to comply with previous orders, as they had not yet fixed their vehicles within the allotted time; these vehicles were taken off the road. Some drivers also received multiple tickets.
“This year, we focused highly on container haulers and dump trucks, as well as artisan and vocational type vehicles that did not appear to be meeting safety regulations and standards.” explains Steve Bauer, Regional Manager CVSE. “With this approach we were able to quickly process vehicles that were in good condition, and concentrate on pulling the unsafe vehicles off the road.”