Commercial Vehicles

Beefs & Bouquets is a regular feature of the Nanaimo News Bulletin, giving readers an opportunity to sound off about local issues. A recent Beef took aim at heavily loaded trucks:

“To extra heavy trucks lugging their loads through Nanaimo. Getting behind them at intersections is frustrating and dangerous because they don't go with the traffic flow.”

British Columbia is officially setting a landmark Canadian precedent for highway safety and legal accountability. Bill M217, the Dashboard Cameras in Commercial Vehicles Act, has successfully passed its third reading in the B.C. Legislature with unanimous, all-party support.

In British Columbia, the law is absolute: the driver and the carrier are fully responsible for knowing the exact maximum height of their vehicle and load before hitting the road. With the Province implementing the toughest infrastructure protection laws in Canada, operating without a valid permit, failing to check route clearings, or deviating from an approved path can result in immediate fleet groundings, massive carrier sanctions, and court-imposed fines up to $100,000.

Have you ever found yourself trailing a large commercial transport truck on a British Columbia highway and felt an overwhelming urge to get around it? It is a common psychological reaction for passenger vehicle drivers. We don't like being slowed down but the maneuver that happens next is often one of the most dangerous actions on our roads: passing the truck, immediately cutting back into its lane, and then slowing down.

When British Columbia drivers see a pilot car with flashing amber lights, it is an immediate warning that an oversize, slow-moving, or extra-wide commercial load is nearby. Navigating safely around these escorts requires exercising extreme caution and being prepared to yield the right-of-way, regardless of where you are driving in the province.

Failing to measure a load properly is an expensive crisis on B.C. highways. About once a month, an over-height vehicle or its load is involved in a collision with an overpass somewhere in British Columbia. According to the Ministry of Transportation and Transit, these preventable infrastructure crashes cause millions of dollars in structural damage, gridlock commuter traffic, and compromise public safety.

Effective in November 2018, commercial trucks were forbidden to use the leftmost lane on the Coquihalla Highway between Box Canyon and Zopkios. The aim of the pilot project was to keep "spun out" trucks on the right side of the highway and the left lane clear for snow removal equipment and tow trucks. The project has been expanded.

Question: What are the laws in BC about wearing hearing protection while operating a non-commercial vehicle? I drive a diesel panel van, and the noise level in the cab is VERY high at highway speeds - to the point that conversation is difficult and my ears ring after extended drives.

One exemption from having to wear a seatbelt during normal operation of a motor vehicle is when one travels at 40 km/h or less and is engaged in work that requires them to make frequent stops. The Motor Vehicle Act does not define what the term frequent stops means.