The British Motor Transport Association says that while driver error is often a factor when commercial trucks hit overpasses, the province needs to do more to improve highway infrastructure and share what it knows about overpass collisions.
Dave Earle, CEO of the BC Trucking Association, says his group is working with the province to improve infrastructure for commercial drivers and would like to see the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure publicly share accident findings.
“Without getting more information about what the department is learning, it’s going to be really hard for us to work together to figure out what we can do to make things better,” Earle said.
“We just don’t know enough when [the collisions] happen and what causes them.”
Since last month, there have been three incidents where commercial trucks carrying oversized cargo have hit overpasses on highways in British Columbia, Earle said.
In early June, a truck collided with the Cambie Road overpass in Richmond, closing part of Highway 99. A few weeks later, a dump truck pulling an excavator crashed into the 232nd overpass on Highway 1 in Langley. And last week, a flatbed truck pulling an excavator caused extensive damage to the 192nd overpass on Highway 1 in Surrey, sending two people to the hospital.
7 trucks hit overpasses last year
The province says there have been at least seven incidents of trucks carrying large loads hitting overhead bridges in the past 12 months.
Jim Weber is a heavy-duty truck driver who says the infrastructure in British Columbia can be very challenging when transporting oversized cargo such as machinery, farm equipment and construction materials.
“British Columbia has very old infrastructure, very low overpasses and roundabouts … they’ve even put roundabouts on major highways,” he said.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure says all new infrastructure will be built at least five meters high to ease challenges for commercial truck drivers. (Spruce Hollow Heavy Duty)
The province says all new infrastructure will be built at least five meters high to alleviate some of the obstacles commercial truck drivers face.
Earle says there can be any number of reasons commercial trucks hit overpasses.
“It could be people taking shortcuts. They may be people who honestly make measurement mistakes. Sometimes companies and drivers just don’t think they are overloaded and know what these problems are. And that’s where education and outreach have to come in,” he said.
The province says to increase transparency and accountability, new measures will be introduced in the coming weeks, including a published list of “BC carriers that have been canceled for a reason … that includes serious safety violations.”
Earle says the purpose of public reports would not be to find fault, but rather to prevent similar collisions in the future.
Infrastructure renewal
Rob Wiebe drove commercial trucks for nine years before becoming general manager of K-Line Trailers in Langley.
His company works with customers on what they need to transport and how best to design and build a trailer that’s right for the job.
“The workloads are getting bigger, the equipment is getting bigger, that’s not going to change,” Wiebe said.
Rob Wiebe of K-Line Trailers says cargo loads are getting bigger and so is the equipment used to tow them. (CBC News/Janella Hamilton)
He says some of his customers have to go around British Columbia to transport oversized cargo. He says modernizing and improving existing infrastructure would be better for the economy and the environment.
Weber says that no matter where drivers travel, it all comes down to doing the necessary homework, preparing and obtaining the appropriate permits.
“At the end of the day, it’s our responsibility as drivers to check our route before we go.”
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