Inspections remove 103 unsafe vehicles and 16 drivers from Sask. highways

Vehicle inspectors with the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol and SGI removed 103 vehicles and 16 drivers from the province’s highways after identifying safety issues.

The groups held a 72-hour campaign to identify mechanical issues in vehicles, conducting 332 vehicle checks at the Langham Weigh Scale earlier this month.

According to the provincial government, the vehicles were removed from the roads after inspectors found issues with brakes or how cargo was secured, while the 16 drivers were found to be exceeding their hours-of-service limits, falsifying records, driving with the incorrect licence, or driving while impaired by drugs.

READ MORE:

• Butt out: Saskatchewan Highway Patrol seizes 6.6M unstamped cigarettes
• 4,500 vehicles pulled over during Chamberlain checkstops: RCMP
• Penalties going up for speeding, stunting and street racing in Saskatchewan

The inspections also identified 81 other vehicles with mechanical issues that required “immediate repair.”

A total of 148 trucks and 82 trailers passed the inspections.

Paul Merriman, Saskatchewan’s minister of corrections, policing and public safety, said it’s crucial for Saskatchewan residents to be safe when they head out on the highway.

“While it is important to transport food, fuel and goods to and from communities throughout our province, we do not want that to put our residents at risk because vehicles and drivers are not meeting proper standards,” Merriman said in a statement.

The safety campaign was part of a North America-wide initiative by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, which has seen nearly two million inspections conducted since it began in 1998.