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Editorial: Tougher fines needed

When is government and the trucking industry going to get tough on the drivers and the companies who are responsible for these seemingly constant accidents on our roadways?
72nd St truck accident
It's a seen that is played out far too often on Delta roads. Mark Booth photo

It is a scenario that has played out on Delta roadways far too often.

Last Wednesday (May 10) around 9:30 a.m., the latest incident involving a rolled over semi-truck came to light on social media.

Our newsroom quickly put together a story for our website as we were getting the May 11th print edition off to the press and all day long kept an eye on the DriveBC webcams for status updates as to when the accident scene would be cleared and all lanes of the area around Highway 17 and Highway 99 would be open.

Little did we know that the accident in Ladner would be followed with another truck rolling over in Steveston. Just another day of chaos on our roads and major headaches for commuters, which took well into Wednesday night to clear both incidents.

These ‘accidents’ are happening far too often on our Delta roads.

Truck drivers, are either travelling far too fast (speeding), operating trucks that should not be on the road in the first place or carrying loads that are too big for the trucks they are operating and or drivers that just simply don’t have the qualifications or proper training to be doing the job that they are doing.

They are putting themselves and the rest of the public at risk every time they get behind the wheel.

Thankfully, no one was hurt in either of these latest incidents, but what about the next time?

I asked and received a very fulsome account of both incidents from the media relations officer with RCMP Highway Patrol, which shed some light on the investigations, why it took so long to clear the accidents and the charges laid.

You can read the story online or in today’s print edition and make up your own mind if the punishment fits. I certainly don’t think so and it begs a continued question that isn’t being answered…when is government and the trucking industry going to get tough on the drivers and the companies who are responsible for these seemingly constant accidents on our roadways?