Ministry pulled Hamilton into 2019 meeting over dismal safety scores with large vehicles

Hamilton city dump trucks, garbage trucks and other public works vehicles got into so many crashes, and had so many traffic convictions and inspection issues, that the province called a meeting in 2019 to find out what was going on.

But the city says its safety records are much better now. And the city's commercial vehicle operator's registration (CVOR) violation ratehas dropped to a current38.7per cent,according to Rom D'Angelo, the city's energy, fleet and facilities director.

It was over 80 per cent at the start of 2019. The city says more mandatory training, an awareness campaign at public works yards and a driver simulator have brought that down.

"You could only imagine if we grounded our major public works vehicles that does winter control, water and sewer breaks, our waste packers," D'Angelosaid. "You can imagine if [the province] pulled and sidelined that, the implications it would create across the city."

The Ministry of Transportation rate applies to about 387 public works vehicles, each weighing at least 4,500 kilograms. D'Angelo said the "big users" of the fleet are the roads, water, and waste management departments.

It does not include Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) buses, which have a separate CVOR score.

High score raisedred flags

Dan McKinnon, general manager of public works, noted the 2019 high in city council'sgeneral issues committee meetinglast week. He said the city got into trouble with Highway Traffic Act violations and minor accidents.

"The CVOR is the administrative equivalent of having a toddler playing with scissors," he said. "We on a daily basis have to pay very close attention to our CVOR. Because if our points rise too high, we do risk losing our registration, which could theoretically ground our entire fleet."

The ratings are based upon a weighted breakdown of reportable collisions, convictions and roadsideinspections, saidD'Angelo.

The over-80 per cent score, he said, caused "whistles and bells" to go off. The vehicles involved were crucial to running the city, with large machinery that respondsto road repairs, water main breaks, and winter storms.

"It's the work that's being done day in and day out to service the community and to ensure that we're taking care of all our infrastructure," he said.

Collisions, convictions decreased

The meeting with the ministry prompted the city to analyze how it could do better,D'Angelo said, and it "came down to driver training and awareness."

"We've had some significant improvements," he said.

Collision and convictions have decreased, he said, and older ones are expiring off the city's record. In the past two years, the score has been cut in half.

There was also a disconnect between what the city recordedand what the ministry considers a reportable accident.

The ministry is concerned about accidents dealing with more than$2,000 of damage or injury. But D'Angelo said the city was also reporting smaller ones. So as police officers continued to be called to less serious accidents, like broken mirrors and small scratches, theinfractions began piling up.

The city now handles these types of incidents internally, he said.

"I think the key message here is the significant change. We're in a good state."

Pulling vehicles isa last resort, ministry says

CBC News inquired about the threshold for prompting a meeting and how bad things need to be for vehicles to be pulled from the roads. The ministry said it doesn't have a "straightforward breakdown" of threshold numbers.

"We now weigh various pieces of information, including the number and severity of incidents, rates in the growth or decline of violations, and the length of time a carrier has held CVOR permission," said a ministry spokesperson.

"The status of the City of Hamilton's CVOR compliance came to our attention through several data sets which we used to craft an appropriate intervention in order tohelp the city improve."

Interventions can include warning letters, facility audits, interviews and sanctions. The ministry said sanctions,such as suspending or cancelling operating privileges, are a last resort.