The Burnaby RCMP say it is “staggering” the number of commercial vehicles that are unsafe to operate on local roads.
The local police Twitter account detailed a recent operation in Burnaby with other commercial vehicle enforcement agencies.
Out of all the commercial trucks that were stopped, 67% of them were “found to be unfit for the roadway” and removed from the road.
In all, 70 tickets were issued.
According to Const. Kevin Connolly with Burnaby RCMP’s traffic enforcement unit – in a February interview with the NOW - most of those issues would have been caught if drivers had simply completed their required pre-trip vehicle inspections before hitting the road,
Connolly spoke with the now after officers in February inspected 238 vehicles over three days and pulled 131 from the road for a total of 374 violations and 216 defects.
Three of the trucks taken out of service were found to have at least one tire no longer attached to the rim.
“They had completely gone flat and fallen off and were just wobbling,” Connolly said.
Connolly said one problem is a lack of awareness with drivers about safety issues.
“Too often, I will find these things wrong and I’ll start pointing them out, and all I see is a driver who’s wide-eyed, who has no idea what I’m talking about,” he said.
- With additional reporting by Cornelia Naylor
