Truck-company inspections, training and tracking inadequate, auditor general says

Manitoba's auditor general says the province is doing a poor job ensuringlarge trucks and other commercial vehicles are operated safely.

Manitoba's Infrastructure Department issues safety certificates to truck-company operators without ensuring they actually know enough about safety, does a poor job of monitoring their safety performance and has trouble determining which operators need to have their certification addressed,says a 65-page report from Auditor General Norm Ricard.

For example, Ricard found the province makes no effort to crack down on what are called "chameleon carriers" trucking companies that are shut down for safety violations but get around that by reopening under a new name and identity.

Manitoba also doesn't look at U.S. safety data, Ricard's report says.

The department does a poor job deploying safety inspections staff, doesn't do a good job of following up on inspections and doesn't demand companies prove they make repairs, the report says.

For example,inspections are lacking because major weigh stations are closed when almost half of commercial truck traffic occurs, Ricard found.

Almost all Level 1 truck inspections the most thorough and detailed checks are done during only five months of the year, from spring to early fall, the report says.

• Do you have a tip about the trucking industry you wish to share?Emailus.

The auditor also found the Infrastructure Department doesn't adequately plan to improve commercial-vehicle safety because it doesn't consider risks, doesn't look at data in enough detail anddoesn't co-ordinate with Manitoba Public Insurance. It also has no means of assessing the value of its own work to improvesafety.

The report makes 17 recommendations, including sayingthe Infrastructure Department should:

• Implementsafety knowledge tests.
• Domore to root out "chameleon carriers."
• Improvethe way it grades safety performance.
• AccessU.S. safety data.
• Flagthe operators who present the greatest safety risk.

Manitoba recently brought in mandatory training for entry-level commercial truck drivers.

The move was in response to a 2018 crash between a semi-trailer truck and a bus carryingplayers and staff from the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team in Saskatchewan. The crashkilled 16 people; the semi driver pleaded guilty of 29 counts of dangerous driving causing death or bodily harm.

In Manitoba, almost 16 per cent of annual traffic fatalities involve commercial vehicles, partly because of their size and weight, the auditor's report says in its background information.

In 2018 alone, 2,086 commercial vehicles were involved in collisions in Manitoba. While most only involved property damage, 11 people died, 39 people were seriously injured and 494 people sustained minor or unspecified injuries, the report says.

The estimated annual cost of all these collisions is about $135 million, including "costs related to loss of life, medical treatment, rehabilitation and property damage," Ricard said.

The Manitoba Trucking Association said there are no surprises in Ricard's report. Executive director Terry Shaw said he would like to see the recommendations implemented, including more staff to do inspectionsand the use of technology to single out companies or vehicles of special interest to inspectors.

"Right now a truck rolls up to the weigh station and you inspect the first in line," Shaw said.

Manitoba Infrastructure also accepts all the recommendations and is working on implementing some of them, said Tammy Sawatzky, a spokesperson for the province.

Gypsy Hunking, whosedaughter Carley was killed along with her boyfriend when their car was hit by a semi truck in August of 2017, said the province needs to do more to improve safety.

The driver of the semi that killed her daughter had only been on the road for a year.

"Your whole world is turned upside down because they're not being trained properly," she said.