Editor:
Living next to the Trans Canada Highway, both East and West bound, we are witness to a many interesting things going down the highway. On April 20, we heard what turned out to be a semi-truck going east. It sound like a jack-hammer and most likely had a tire that was down to the cords. The driver apparently did not know or care about the horrendous racket his vehicle was making as he blew by our house at highway speeds.
While this and other semi-trucks regularly pass by our home, my daughter’s pristine show truck sits idle in our garage. Her truck has been pushed off the road by what best can be described as harassing and even bullying behaviours by the CVSE. We believe the items that have been noted to make her vehicle not roadworthy—such as inadequate reflective tape on the sleeper and a missing letter ‘i’ from the penny light assembly of her immaculately maintained semi—are egregious.
We have attempted to address this issue through all appropriate channels to no avail.
The powers that be, all men, have determined that this woman’s truck is a definite danger to something and therefore can not be tolerated. My daughter’s truck to date has gone through a commercial vehicle inspection 13-plus times—passing every single time.
The proper application of the rules via government-approved inspections facilities and CVSE inspectors appears to not be sufficient. Even changing the offending item seems to not be a solution. The only thing that we suspect will truly work will be grovelling compliance to whatever the CVSE say and want: but since we believe what CVSE says and wants is highly contradictory among the various inspectors, scales, and even high officials, we can only conclude this problem is not solvable.
The Ministry of Transportation says that their mandate is to keep the highways open and safe. The roads are open at various time and in various locations. As for safety, is the public safe sharing the road with the ‘jack-hammer?’ Given this, we can only assume the Ministry of Transportation has deemed that this truck is adequate because they continue to let the ‘jack-hammer’ and other trucks like this drive on the highways and by-ways of B.C.
If you, the taxpayer, aren’t fully convinced that the Ministry of Transportation fully understands what’s safe versus what’s actually on the road, I suggest contacting the Transportation minister, Hon. Claire Trevena. She can be reached in Victoria at (250) 387-1978. Ms. Trevena can also be reached at her constituency at (250) 287-5100 (toll free at 1-866-387-5100) or email her at claire.trevena.MLA@leg.bc.ca.
Feel free to let Ms. Trevena know what you consider safe to look like on the highways.
Tina Laursen