B.C. wants unified truck safety system after spate of overpass crashes reveals gaps

British Columbia's transport minister has written to his federal counterpart asking for the closure of road safety gaps he says allow some trucking companies to avoid consequences while operating unsafely across Canada.

Rob Fleming's letter on Monday to Pablo Rodriguez comes after a series of incidents involving commercial trucks or their cargo slamming into highway overpasses.

"A supreme source of frustration," Fleming said of the crashes. 

"We have 100,000 truck movements every day, about 3 million a month, 36 million a year in B.C., so 31 crashes with a high impact, we ought to be able to get this down … close to 0."

A company involved in an overpass crash on Highway 99 last month had its B.C. fleet taken off the road, but because it's part of a group that also has a fleet in Alberta, those trucks are still allowed to work in B.C.

Fleming says in the letter that suspension or cancellation of a carrier's safety certificate in one jurisdiction doesn't affect their operations based in another.

"Because if the company is headquartered in another province and they haven't committed those kinds of offences in that particular province, [other provinces] can take note of it, but we can't co-ordinate with other provinces and we wish to do that," Fleming said.

He says safety certificates are issued by the jurisdiction where a vehicle is plated, and no single authority is responsible for oversight of a carrier's entire operations if they have certificates in multiple jurisdictions.

Fleming says a solution is required and he wants the issue put on the agenda of the next meeting of transport ministers.

Rodriguez's office expressed an interest in working on the issue.

"Safety is always our highest priority," press secretary Laura Scaffidi wrote in an email. "We have great collaboration between our two governments, and Minister Rodriguez looks forward to meeting with the province on this issue."