Ontario truck drivers and carriers have a long tradition of being the safest operators on the road, but it’s becoming undeniable these historic values and standards are decaying rapidly and hurting municipalities and communities across the province, Marco Beghetto, VP of the Ontario Trucking Association, said in Caledon, Ont.
Speaking at a Caledon Council General Committee meeting this week, Beghetto acknowledged the unique challenges the town of Caledon faces in dealing with an increase of commercial truck safety violations and non-compliance, crashes involving heavy trucks, and seemingly uncontrolled illegal truck yards and parking.
He commended political leaders like Mayor Anette Groves and her staff, as well as local community safety advocates, for recognizing there is a growing problem and for reaching out to neighbouring municipalities and stakeholders like OTA to coordinate effective strategies to enforce traffic violations and zoning bylaws.
OTA has been meeting regularly with the mayor of Caledon, as well as Vaughn and Brampton, to discuss truck parking and road safety in those communities and offered its municipal planning paper as support.
At the meeting, Beghetto reinforced OTA’s continued support on municipal issues but warned that to truly address the root of the truck safety and non-compliance crisis, meaningful provincial and federal intervention is crucial.
“I know when you work hard to put out one fire, it feels like three others start – and how frustrating that can be. I’m here to tell you the issues you are all seeing daily across Ontario, and in Caledon specifically, are a symptom of a much larger systemic problem of a growing underground economy and culture of non-compliance,” he said. “In essence, what you are seeing played out on your roadways at the local level is downstream of a much larger scheme that exploits loopholes in the tax, labour and immigration systems, as well as the provincial safety, licensing and training regimes.
“To truly combat this, the province and the federal government must increase enforcement and uphold their respective laws and regulations intended to safeguard the public – and they certainly have the power to do that and help restore a culture of accountability. They just need the political will. It’s imperative that cities and towns like Caledon, which are most affected by this crisis, recognize that your voices need to travel upstream as well.”
Beghetto said he looks forward to continuing to work with Caledon, its local safety advocacy group, and support efforts to engage other municipalities to bring light to eroding safety standards across the province.
“We stand ready to support Caledon in this battle – and any other municipality that develops a will to acknowledge and tackle these issues.”
*image from Caledon Community Road Safety Advocacy Group FB page