Brody Langager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
There have been three incidents involving overpass collisions this month in Saskatoon, costing the city thousands in repairs.
So what can be done to prevent this from happening?
City councillors asked the question on Wednesday as they learned about all the steps being taken by city administration.
Next steps and cost recovery
Coun. Zach Jeffries said the city is doing everything it reasonably can to “prevent people from doing stupid things,” including issuing fines, getting people to pay restitution, working with insurance companies and filing claims in court to say “dude, you owe us money.”
Administration said it’s even considering installing security cameras at overpasses because in the past, some drivers who’ve hit them haven’t stopped.
There’s been an increase in bridge strikes across Canada, and other jurisdictions are looking at options as well, council heard.
Jeffries asked about what cost recovery for past overpass collisions has looked like.
City solicitor Cindy Yelland said there are charges that police can enforce under the Highways and Transportation Act, but called the fines in that act “ridiculously low.”
A fine for a first offence under that act is $200, with subsequent offences being $500.
The city’s Traffic Bylaw has recent changes that allow offenders to be charged more, but Yelland said they can’t be charged under both the act and the city bylaw.
Yelland said any incident with city infrastructure damage goes through a cost recovery process. Some past overpass collisions haven’t resulted in a cost recovery due to the city fighting with insurance companies, she said.
As well, the cost of civic staff responding to these overpass collisions are not recoverable costs.
“We recognize this trend, and we’re all frustrated with this trend,” Yelland said.
Stricter penalties and a red seal
“This amount of strikes in such a short time is definitely something that doesn’t happen that often,” said Thomas Archer, leadership, education and development specialist with the Saskatchewan Trucking Association.
He said there are thousands of trucks that drive through Regina and Saskatoon daily.
“There are technically, I think four (collisions) in the province in such a short time.”
In at least two of the incidents in Saskatoon, the drivers who crashed into the overpasses didn’t have a permit to drive through Saskatoon.
Archer said while that’s uncommon, there are people who move equipment around that aren’t necessarily part of the trucking industry.
He explained that if a load exceeds 4.15 metres in height, drivers need a permit to drive through Saskatoon. That permit will have a route and guidance on how to get to where drivers need to go.
Archer said Saskatchewan has really good education for trucking programs, and there has been a lot done to push compliance.
He said the Saskatchewan Trucking Association encourages tougher enforcement and stricter penalties on non-compliance, adding that municipalities are looking at stricter penalty options as well.
Alberta is pushing for a red seal program for Class 1 driver training across Canada to help improve trucking safety and to create a national standard. Archer said he would need to see the specifics of the program, but he was generally supportive of it.
The Alberta government has also been boasting increased enforcement on trucking in the province, with a statement from Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen saying they’ve “closed five fraudulent training schools (and) removed 13 unsafe carriers” over the past year.
“We’d be in favour of graduated licensing for trucking,” Archer said, saying drivers could start out on smaller equipment and work their way up.
He said people need to know how high their load is when driving a truck in Saskatchewan. Archer added that if anyone has a question about trucking they can contact the Saskatchewan Trucking Association.
