Vehicle enforcement Take key component of highway safety
Last week I had the privilege of being invited to attend the graduation ceremony for Recruit Class 0020 of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement program. It was a sincere honour to be invited and it was the first time I have attended their graduation.
It was an outstanding ceremony and their marching and drill skills were impeccable! Fourteen men and women, including one from Lethbridge, graduated and received their diplomas and badges. They will now be posted to various locations throughout Alberta to help keep our highways safe.
Some of you may wonder why I am writing about this? What is the connection to Lethbridge or the police? I suspect that most of the general public do not realize what a powerhouse institution we have in Lethbridge College and the widereaching impact it has on public safety in Alberta. There is a long, proud and strong tradition between the Lethbridge Police Service and Medicine Hat Police Service who partner with the college to deliver our recruit training. This was recently expanded to include the Blood Tribe Police Service and the quality of training and education will only get better as time goes on.
But did you know for 25 years Lethbridge College has been the facility that provides the recruit training for all of the province’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers? It is a highly specialized field of law enforcement and the fact that their recruit training facility is in our city is something we should all be proud of. The men and women who graduate to become Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers help keep Alberta’s highways safe and will always have a connection to Lethbridge.
I am also extremely proud of the fact that Commercial Vehicle Enforcement and the Lethbridge Police Service share an additional connection in that we are both members of the Commission for the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). We subscribe to standards beyond the minimum provincial standards to ensure a professional service.
I have many friends that are professional drivers. They are proud of their profession. They are also quick to remind me that without the professional driver our economy and most things we all enjoy daily would be impacted. They take safety very seriously and take pride in their rigs being safe. They know they are responsible for some 30-40 tons of metal and products on wheels travelling down the highway. However, they are candid that there are some people and companies in the industry that take shortcuts and some rigs and trailers that should not be on the road. They get frustrated when they spend the money and take the time to ensure safety while some choose to take a chance. It is the handful of those bad apples combined with a negative incident that has the potential to tarnish the entire industry.
Several years ago I was driving on the 401 near the Kingston area in Ontario. That year had been one riddled with entire wheels separating from tractor trailer units and causing deaths and injuries of innocent motorists. As I climbed up a hill on the west side of Kingston I wound up between a column of tractor trailers on either side of me due to the merge lanes. I heard one heck of a smash and ricochet type of sound that I can only compare to a shot gun slug.
I immediately saw that my rear passenger side window had been smashed. I pulled over and found a large rusted lug nut and the sheared off thread portion still attached. It had come through my window and hit the bottom portion of my rear window leaving a significant gouge in the plastic. I was fortunate that I was travelling alone. Had my family been with me there would have been a child seat and child in the path of that lug nut.
It hit close to home and I instantly developed an even more profound respect for the men and women that enforce the laws that regulate commercial vehicles.
I always respected these officers but that incident took it to a whole new level. The work the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers do is thankless work and is crucial to getting those bad apples and unsafe rigs and trailers off the road. One need only count the number of transports the next time they take a drive to Calgary, or anywhere for that matter, to see how many of these heavy vehicles are on the highways.
It is imperative they be safe and regularly inspected and the men and women who make up Alberta’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement division are out there every day to help protect our highways. In doing so, they keep the public safe.
The Lethbridge Police Service is proud to partner with Commercial Vehicle Enforcement throughout the year to do inspection blitzes to help keep our highways safe. We are fortunate to have several officers that were Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers before joining us and who have shared their knowledge with the organization.
On behalf of the Lethbridge Police Service, congratulations to Class 0020 of the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement program and may you be safe as you are out there keeping our highways and the public safe.