Making Highway Travel Safer

A 48-hour roadside inspection blitz of heavy trucks this week has helped to make Nova Scotia highways safer.

More than 88 per cent of randomly selected heavy trucks passed tough on-road inspection standards during the international Roadcheck 2005. That's up three per cent from the previous year.

"Vehicle compliance-officers enforce safety standards and protect the health and well-being of Nova Scotia road users everyday," said Transportation and Public Works Minister Ron Russell. "Roadcheck highlights the importance of this work, and the high standards to which truckers must aspire."

Provincial officers conducted inspections around the clock from Tuesday, June 7, to Thursday, June 9, at the Amherst inbound scale house, while mobile patrols inspected commercial vehicles travelling on other provincial highways. The inspections include items related to vehicle, driver, and cargo safety.

"Most vehicles showed a high level of mechanical fitness and passed inspections," said vehicle compliance manager Don Evans. "Inspectors are seeing improvements in the quality of vehicles on the road, which can be attributed to the National Safety Code and stringent Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance on-road inspection procedures."

Of the 176 trucks and trailers randomly selected on Highway 104, 21 were placed out of service for various defects.

Roadcheck is held annually throughout Canada, the United States and Mexico.