The Edmonton Police Service says a recent inspection blitz on commercial vehicles in the city resulted in 52 per cent of the vehicles being declared “out of service.”
That designation means “the vehicle had a defect that was an immediate risk to the safety of other road users,” police said in a news release issued Friday.
“Comparing these statistics to those from the 2019 inspection, the out-of-service rate has increased by 10 per cent, with a similar number of inspections conducted,” police said.
Police said 30 per cent of vehicles passed their inspection and 18 per cent of the vehicles required non-urgent attention.
The EPS considers a commercial vehicle to be one that is registered commercially and that is used for the transportation of goods and services.
The vehicle inspections were conducted between Tuesday and Thursday and saw 216 commercial vehicles reviewed at three sites across Edmonton.
According to police, the “most dangerous vehicle” members came across was a semi-truck towing heavy trailers that was found to not have its cargo properly secured and which had mechanical issues relating to its brakes and trailer attachment points. Along with 27 other vehicles, the truck was towed because of its “dangerous condition.”
“The bulk of our inspections this year looked at commercial vehicles travelling in and around the city of Edmonton,” said Sgt. Dave Beattie, with the EPS’ commercial vehicle investigation unit. “It’s important to note that despite the one very dangerous semi-truck we found, most of the long-distance highway trucks we see are in safe condition.
“So while the results are not indicative of the transport industry as a whole, it shows that there is work to be done within certain sectors.”
READ MORE: Nearly half of vehicles failed commercial inspection in Edmonton
In total, the EPS said the inspections resulted in 601 violations discovered, resulting in 174 tickets issued totalling $56,376. Police also said two charges were laid for suspended driving.
For more information on commercial vehicle inspections in Edmonton, click here.
Watch below: (From September 2017) A recent inspection blitz of commercial vehicles in Edmonton found that over half of the vehicles checked were deemed to be unsafe on the road. Quinn Ohler reports.
