From semi-trucks with brake failure to your local pizza guy with an oil leak, commercial vehicle safety month aims to keep Calgary streets safe.

June marks Commercial Vehicle Safety Month in the Alberta traffic safety calendar. The Calgary Police Service (CPS) conducts a joint safety check twice a year in collaboration with Alberta Transportation, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), and the Alberta Sheriffs. 

The traffic stops are three-day blitzes that happen in September and June. Commercial vehicles are thoroughly checked to ensure they are roadworthy.

“Unfortunately we’ve had some fairly good successes with vehicles that are so badly in disrepair that they’re actually having their certification to drive down the road removed,” said Colin Foster, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance Inspector and CPS Traffic Sergeant.

Foster said that the out-of-service inspection rate, which is the vehicles they find with defects, can range anywhere from the mid-to-high 80s when conducting these stops.

“It’s artificially high because I’m not going to be stopping the brand-new truck. I’m wasting the driver’s time, and I’m wasting my time. So although it sounds horrendous, the roads, generally speaking, the commercial drivers in Calgary are really good,” he said.

Annual inspection required by law

Commercial vehicles defined by the National Safety Code (NSC) require annual inspections in Alberta. The NSC defines it as trucks, truck-tractors, semi-trailers, trailers and combinations exceeding a registered gross vehicle weight (GVW) of 4,500 kg.

“Technically speaking, it’s your pizza delivery guy as well. That’s a commercial vehicle. But we’re concentrating on things like you see here, the 4500 kg and above, the semi-trailers, all those types of really big commercial vehicles,” said Foster.

Typical failures are caught in the brake systems and loose joints in the steering. Vehicles exceeding 11,500 kg are required to do a vehicle pre-check before their trip.

“Of the three vehicles that we’ve actually removed off the road and they’ve had their certification removed, the drivers hadn’t done that,” said Foster.

Commercial vehicle infraction fines start at $324 but can lead to the vehicle being impounded.

“So we really want to hammer home that particular message, ‘if you do your jobs, we don’t have to do ours,’ basically,” said Foster.

The drivers in the city are no strangers to the checks with such strict legislation surrounding their mode of transportation.

“It’s part of the job to do these checkups. It’s good for us as well to maintain it for our job and keep our safety up to date,” said Gabriel Molina, a driver from Star Building Materials in Calgary.

These traffic stops are a great way to get vehicles in disrepair off the road but serve more as a reminder for drivers to comply with the rest of the enforcement that CPS conducts.

“We do go out relatively daily to try and see if we find anything, and that’s anywhere in the city,” said Foster

“We want to reassure the public that we are out here. We are conducting inspections.”