Burnaby RCMP’s Traffic Services and 10 partner agencies placed 58% of the commercial vehicles they inspected out of service (OOS) during enforcement operations across the Lower Mainland in British Columbia last year.
Authorities conducted 50 operations in 2023, inspecting 1,715 trucks and placing 999 OOS, according to a news release. The RCMP said there were 3,974 violations recorded and 1,298 tickets issued.
“Though the percentage of trucks placed out of service has inched down slightly this past year, there is still a lot of room for road safety improvement,” Corporal Mike Kalanj with the Burnaby RCMP said in the release.
In 2022, 1,706 commercial vehicles were inspected and 1,053 (62%) were placed out of service. RCMP said 43 enforcement operations were carried out unearthing 4,552 violations and 1,714 tickets were issued.
Violations unearthed
Burnaby RCMP’s Traffic Services also conducted 41 enforcement operations on its own within Burnaby in 2023. The authorities said 811 trucks were inspected and 541 (67%) were placed OOS. There were 2,591 violations and 1,169 tickets issued.
In October 2023, a one-year pilot project dedicating a police officer to focus solely on leading the detachment’s commercial vehicle safety efforts was initiated to enhance education, enforcement and compliance.
This year, Burnaby RCMP says it will leverage its new pilot program and expand education efforts as part of its overall strategy to improve road safety.