Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom is dismissing claims by the union representing commercial vehicle inspectors that B.C.'s roads are becoming more dangerous.
Lektrom responded last week to allegations by the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) that more truck crashes and unsafe big rigs are problems compounded by a lack of inspectors.
The union said a shortage of commercial vehicle inspectors and an almost 50 per cent increase in heavy truck traffic has made B.C.'s roads less safe since the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE) branch was brought back into government service from ICBC in 2003.
The union said there's been a decline in safety standards because more than one-in-four commercial vehicle inspector jobs have gone unfilled.
Meantime, weigh scales are closing while crashes continue to rise.
"B.C.'s commercial vehicle inspector corps is being stretched to the breaking point," said BCGEU president Darryl Walker.
"They're being asked to deal with one-and-a-half times the volume of truck traffic with only three-quarters the number of inspectors as a decade ago."
Lekstrom told the Optimist the CVSE had 276 employees in 2003, four more than it had last year.
He noted that in 2004 the branch did 26,635 inspections, while last year it did 30,453.
"That number (inspections) is probably the most important to me and the traveling public. It indicated the men and women who work with CVSE are doing more today than they have ever done, as well, at the same time, we have a 30 per cent reduction in truck accidents in our province, not an increase, which is what Mr. Walker has led people to believe," Lekstrom said.
"I couldn't disagree more with Mr. Walker," said Lekstrom. "I think he's misleading the public and that's unfortunate because safety is our first and primary concern at the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
"The vast majority of our trucking industry are law abiding. They live by the rules. They meet the safety requirement of their trucks.
There are a select few out there, like in anything, that seem to think they can work outside of those laws and
regulations."
NDP transportation critic Harry Bains, however, told the Optimist that contrary to Lekstrom's assertion that inspections have increased, inspectors say, in fact, they are forced to do quicker inspections.
He noted that in 2003 there were 254 inspectors, but last year that number had gone down to 187.
The most recent truck inspection blitz in Delta took place over three days last month. Of the more than 16,000 trucks that passed through inspection stations, 692 were given a further inspection. Of those, 268 (39 per cent) of were deemed to be out of service.
