Police launch 3-day blitz inspecting safety of commercial vehicles

Police are cracking down on unsafe commercial vehicles, launching a three-day inspection blitz Tuesday.

The Edmonton Police Service along with some Calgary officers and Alberta Transportation enforcement officers are conducting surprise spring commercial vehicle inspections in an effort to take unsafe vehicles off the road.

Inspectors will look at overloads, faulty equipment, load securement and load dimensions.

"It's a road safety initiative to enhance the safety of commercial vehicle traffic in Edmonton," said Sgt. Kerry Bates with the Edmonton Police Service.

"Especially in the spring to kick off the year, winter is over and commercial traffic increases to some degree so we just like to get a really good start and get people educated and pointed in the right direction as far as the maintenance of their vehicle and make sure they're all up to speed and operating safety."

Last year during a similar three-day check, 241 commercial vehicles were examined with 102 out of those taken out of service for being unsafe, 59 were listed as needing attention and 80 passed inspection.

Bates says inspections in recent years has typically yielded the same results.

"The last two years statistically-speaking our rates of infractions has been pretty steady," he said.

Among vehicles inspected Tuesday morning was a City of Edmonton truck.

Inspectors tell CTV News the city truck wasn’t safe, and took it off the road.

Officials also fined the driver.

“You can hear it as I shake it. That’s holding all of his suspension together so being loose is not a good thing,” said Pamela Vabb with Alberta Commercial Vehicle Enforcement.

“Something has to be checked, it’s security first that’s the way we work at the city,” says fined driver Francois Mercure. “Safety first.”

Truck driver Roland Toderiuk was one of many caught up in inspections.

Toderiuk just needed paperwork before he was on his way.

He says the safety inspections are important.

"If you don't then a lot of these guys would be running around with no brakes and misadjusted brakes," Toderiuk said."

"It's a good thing they're doing."

The checks are expected to take place at off-peak times and will be aimed at Edmonton-based commercial vehicles over the next three days.

At the end of Tuesday, police had checked 122 vehicles. Of those, 48 were taken out of service, 31 required attention, and 43 passed inspection.

With files from Jeff Harrington