Lack of truck inspections endangering Ontario families: NDP

Ontario NDP Transportation Critic Wayne Gates continued to demand answers from the Liberal government today about when it will finally decide to prioritize the safety of Ontario drivers.

”When families are driving home for the holidays, how will the minister assure them that the big rig ahead of them has been inspected and is safe?” asked Gates. 

Recent reports have shown that just over seven per cent of the commercial trucks on our roads are actually inspected each year, and nearly 25 per cent of them fail those inspections. With recent concerns about winter road maintenance still unaddressed, ‎this news added more urgency to Gates’ questions. 

“We now know that when it comes to truck safety, our roads are now more dangerous, not less. Accidents involving trucks are increasing, not decreasing. Injuries are up, not down,” said Gates, adding that, “all we got from the minister were denials.”

Gates noted that in 2012, the Liberal government closed the Peel inspection station at Dixie and the 401, saying that a trucker can drive for nearly 100km across the GTA without seeing a single inspection station.  Gates went on to tell the House that, “If that trucker does happen to pass one of the four inspection stations on the outskirts of the GTA, the privately run stations are closed most of the time.”