THE United Truckers Association (UTA) is issuing an urgent call to Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Fleming to introduce a wide-ranging safety review across the entire supply chain in the province.

The UTA said that two more incidents of trucks hitting overpasses on Tuesday and last week, and over 30 in the past 24 months, have brought to light the deficiencies in road safety amongst commercial vehicles.

However, any new training and protocols must be equally applied across all parties that comprise of BC’s transportation system, said UTA spokesperson Gagan Singh.

“For reforms to have a lasting impact, the BC government’s efforts to tighten up the Commercial Transport and Motor Vehicle Acts must be far-reaching and not simply focus on commercial truck companies and operators,” said Singh. “There must be additional training and safety measures extended to stakeholders such as cargo shippers and BC’s largest importers / exporters to truly achieve success.”

In 2021, BC introduced the mandatory Class 1 MELT Program training for all new class 1 commercial drive licence applicants. Completion of the course was made a mandatory prerequisite for all ICBC class 1 road testing, the UTA pointed out.

While the UTA remains supportive of this new level of training, it does not account for a number of factors that apply to precautions that should be taken with other parties across the supply chain.

For example, the clearances for commercial vehicle load heights vary greatly between Canada and individual US states, sometimes with differences of over a foot. With commercial trucks that regularly cross the border with a variety of loads, this must be factored into any overhauls by the BC government.

Similarly, shippers must be held accountable for knowing the exact height of their loads for every transportation transaction, to ensure that fits within BC’s 4.15 metre clearance standards.

“The UTA is imploring Minister Fleming to be comprehensive in his future deliberations by understanding that all parities within our province’s supply chain must be held to account effectively. Everyone has a role to play in improving safety,” said the UTA.