EDMONTON – The Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is joining forces with other agencies for a province-wide initiative to ensure commercial vehicles are operating safely on Alberta’s roads.
Members of the EPS Commercial Vehicle Inspection Detail (CVID) are partnering with agencies across the province for a Joint Forces Check which runs from Tuesday, Sept 17 to Thursday, Sept 19.
“It gives us a big burst in our man power, our resources, to check these vehicles for sure when the out of town agencies kick in,” explains Sgt. Kerry Bates with EPS Traffic Services.
“In the spring we had roughly 30 inspectors on site for three days. That equates to 180 to 200 checks we can do in three days. It would take us over a year to do on our own.”
A three-day Joint Forces Check in the spring saw 364 vehicles checked. Of those, 153 (42 per cent) were taken out of service, 98 (27 per cent) required attention, and 113 (31 per cent) passed inspection.
EPS says CVID members come across semi-trailers carrying insecure loads or cube vans with brake issues on a daily basis.
“Out of all the trucks I’ve done today, I haven’t had a single one that has passed,” says Chris Terry, a peace officer with Parkland County who has been trained as a vehicle inspector. “This is my third truck – two have been out of service, one has required attention.”
“The biggest thing for us is safety,” he explains. “When we’re operating a passenger vehicle on the road last thing I want is cargo to come and hit my vehicle, or any dangerous goods.”
“These regular checks are a way to keep maintenance issues top-of-mind with commercial vehicle operators so that they do regular repairs on their vehicles,” says Bates.
“To me, a lot of it is just oversight or laziness – for lack of a better term – where it’s either not getting checked… or the companies or individuals may choose to run their vehicle and make money rather than put it out of service for repairs and lose money,” he adds.
The checks will occur at off-peak times and will be aimed at Edmonton-based commercial vehicles.
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