The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is holding off a decision, about whether to support a proposed ban on commercial trucks along Highway 5A between Kamloops and Merritt.
A presentation was done to the board in December, on behalf of several Nicola Valley ranchers and residents, and asked for a letter of support from the TNRD. The presentation included nine letters of support for such a ban, and three writers identified as staff of the Douglas Lake Cattle Company, including general manager Phil Braig. Others included local ranchers and private citizens, and also Upper Nicola Band chief Harvey McLeod.
Another five letters of support for the ban were submitted to the TNRD before yesterday’s meeting, all from private residents.
“Semi drivers over driving the road, in both speed and conditions, are only a few of the issues,” writes Susan Ingram, a 22-year resident of Upper Sahali just off Highway 5A. “Evidence of the ministry’s attempt to assist all users to safely navigate the highway are extremely evident… but all these additions are not preventing semi truck drivers from massively cutting corners and over driving the highway.
TNRD board chair Ken Gillis, a retired trucker, had concerns with some of the facts from last month’s presentation, after speaking himself with Trent Folk, district manager for the Ministry of Transportation, and with Glenn Taylor of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement Unit.
Data from the presentation last month brought to the TNRD suggested crashes involving commercial trucks are increasing, saying 26 per cent of crashes in 2018 involved semi-trucks compared to 18 per cent in 2013.
But Gillis says the provincial staff he spoke to said the accident rate is “not above normal” compared to other rural highways across the province.
“I think it was Mr. Folk who said ‘nothing jumps off the page,'” Gillis says, adding that the CVSE indicated the number of crashes each year is low. “If you had one more accident one year over another, that could skew the numbers far more.”
He says the issue is about “a serious decline in the quality of drivers” of commercial trucks who use that highway.
“The solution is not to ban trucks from this highway, that highway or another… I urge you not to support it [the proposed ban], at least not yet,” he told other board members. “It’s been going on for many, many years, this discussion about Highway 5A. There’s no special urgency to it.”
Gillis represents Electoral Area L, which includes residents between Knutsford and Stump Lake, and he says he reached out to constituents who live along the highway after last month’s presentation.
“I spoke to three Knutsford ranchers who opposed this initiative. Only one wrote to us, and he did raise a very good point… He said be careful what you wish for. Because if Highway 5A is downgraded, so too will its priority for maintenance to the present standard, in summer and winter.”
The board will now have staff from the Ministry and from CVSE come speak about Highway 5A, before it decides whether to support the push to ban truck traffic.
(Photo: Lori Brewer)