The Halton Regional Police Service has released the stats from their two-day Commercial Motor Vehicle Blitz.
myFM News covered the blitz last week. You can read up on it here.
The results for 2020 are:
- Total commercial motor vehicles inspected: 340
- Total commercial motor vehicles taken out of service: 96 (28% failure rate)
- Total charges laid: 250
- Sets of licence plates seized by police: 7
2019 Results (for comparison):
- Total commercial motor vehicles inspected: 305
- Total commercial motor vehicles taken out of service: 99 (33% failure rate)
- Total charges laid: 239
- Sets of licence plates seized by police: 11
A scary truth is that three drivers had their license suspended for impaired driving. Regarding one of the cases, the Halton Police says, “one of the alcohol related licence suspensions was identified as a 14 year suspended driver.” That driver had their vehicle impounded for seven-days. A total of 19 charges were laid against the driver and his employer, including overweight vehicle, no insurance and multiple mechanical issues.
“Issues identified at the blitz varied across all categories and are reflective of those commercial motor vehicle type offences seen throughout the year,” says Traffic Services Unit Sergeant, Ryan Snow.
“The mechanical issues identified suggest a lack of maintenance and due diligence in daily inspections. Weights also continue to be a safety concern as police continuously note that dump truck drivers claim little control pertaining to overloading of their vehicles. These weight-specific concerns remain an area of ongoing education and enforcement given the obvious handling and braking issues that can occur, along with the additional damage that these weights can render to roadways.
“It should also be highlighted that an out of service rate of 28% only means 28% of trucks directed into the blitz failed to meet required standards, and is not necessarily a reflection of all trucks on area roadways.”
