Flying truck ice hits second N.B. driver
By law, truck drivers must clear safety hazards from their roofs
For the second straight day, CBC has heard from a driver whose windshield was broken by ice flying off the roof of another vehicle.
The above photo was posted online Wednesday by a driver whose car was hit by ice near Moncton. Earlier this week, a woman was struck on Highway 7 near Fredericton.
John Lunney, the superintendent of commercial vehicle enforcement, said if one of his officers spots a truck with a snow and ice buildup on its roof, the driver gets pulled over.
"One option would be to come out and clean their trailer off with the facility we have here,” he said. “If they choose not to do that, they will be parked and ordered out of service."
Eight of the nine weigh stations in New Brunswick are fitted with catwalks that let drivers safely clean their roof.
Lunney says by law, the roofs must be safely cleared.
"It's difficult to catch every vehicle, but I can assure you that if our officers encounter something they believe is an imminent safety hazard, they will take all the necessary measures to alleviate the situation," he said.
'It's one of our biggest challenges'
Jean-Marc Picard is with the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association. Each year, his association meets with truckers and government to discuss the issue.
"To be quite honest, it's one of our biggest challenges,” he said.
Hundreds of trucks drive the roads every day.
“With that amount of trucks on the road, coming from out of province as well, it's really hard to capture the full audience to make sure everyone is doing what they should be,” he said.
Drivers aren’t allowed to climb on top of their trucks due to safety issues, so they need the catwalks found at the weigh stations.
New Brunswick's Motor Vehicle Act does not directly address snow and ice on vehicles roofs.
But the province's Commercial Vehicle Enforcement division says it can apply a section of the act, which penalizes any person "who drives a motor vehicle on a highway without reasonable consideration for any other person using the highway."
Fines begin at $172.