Burnaby RCMP partnered with several commercial vehicle enforcement partner agencies from across the Lower Mainland from July 10 to 16 as part of Operation Safe Driver Week.

Operation Safe Driver Week is an annual enforcement initiative led by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance that targets unsafe driving behaviours from commercial vehicle drivers. It is a North America-wide initiative that aims to use education and enforcement to improve driving behaviours with the goal of reducing crashes on our roadways.

This year, the Lower Mainland Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Team conducted five operations, with one each in Burnaby, Coquitlam, Surrey, Delta, and Abbotsford.

The agencies that took part in this year’s Operation Safe Driver Week included:

Abbotsford Police Traffic Unit

Burnaby RCMP Traffic Unit

City of Burnaby Bylaws

City of Coquitlam Bylaw Commercial Vehicle Unit

City of Surrey Bylaw Commercial Vehicle Unit

Delta Police Commercial Vehicle Unit

Metro Vancouver Transit Police Traffic Unit

New Westminster Police Commercial Vehicle Unit

Passenger Transportation Branch Enforcement Team

Vancouver Police Department Commercial Vehicle Unit

The enforcement efforts undertaken in the Lower Mainland for Operation Safe Driver Week this year found:

80 speeding trucks

21 truck drivers driving distracted

26 trucks disobeying a traffic control device

29 truck drivers failing to wear a seatbelt

1 impaired truck driver

1 fatigued truck driver

Officers also conducted commercial vehicle inspections at the same time to ensure every commercial vehicle stopped was safe to be on the road. This resulted in:

217 trucks inspections

142 (65%) trucks placed out of service

634 violations identified

251 violation tickets issued

"Operation Safe Driver Week is an important reminder to commercial truck drivers of not only their obligation to engage in preventative maintenance, but also their requirement to engage in safe defensive driving habits. To find this many truck drivers engaging in unsafe driving habits combined with how many trucks were mechanically unfit to be on the roadway is concerning," said Cst. Kevin Connolly, Burnaby RCMP's commercial vehicle inspector.

The Lower Mainland Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Team continues to take a regional approach to improving commercial vehicle safety to achieve safer roadways for everyone in the Lower Mainland.

The nature of commercial vehicle traffic makes this a regional issue. We want commercial vehicle operators to know we will be continuing to do proactive enforcement across the Lower Mainland, Connolly added.