BURST
There is no room for mistakes when you’re at the wheel of a loaded logging truck that weighs more than eight elephants on a highway shared with cars, says the founder of a B.C. logging company.
Prince George-based Freya Logging partner Liam Parfitt said his drivers are “professionals at heart” and welcome new provincial legislation that will require large commercial trucks to be equipped with dashboard cameras.
“It protects good drivers, and it puts a spotlight on those who are not,” he said.
The private member’s bill, which passed third reading in the B.C. legislature Monday, has broad support within the B.C. trucking industry, where up to three-quarters of the highway fleet already has dash cams. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some bugs to be worked out.
B.C. Trucking Association president Dave Earle said truckers are not opposed to the new law, but they are concerned it could create interprovincial trade barriers if it isn’t done in harmony with other provinces.
“The drivers we speak to who were reluctant (to install a dash cam) say the first time they’re involved in an accident they become converts,” he said.
That is because provincial data shows that in two-thirds to three-quarters of crashes involving large commercial trucks and passenger vehicles, the driver of the passenger vehicle is at fault.
“When things happen, it allows the driver to tell their story,” said Earle.
But he remains concerned that a patchwork of provincial legislation, which could result if Transport Canada isn’t involved at the national level, could result in different regulations around camera quality, data storage and length of time it must be kept, increasing the burden on truckers and trucking companies. He estimated an appropriate camera could cost between $400 and $500 with a data subscription, an amount that adds up for companies with a large fleet of trucks.
B.C. Conservative MLA Ward Stamer, who put forward the bill, has been working on the issue since he was mayor of Barriere, and first became concerned about the frequency of crashes on a stretch of Highway 5 north of Kamloops.
“We have some of the most challenging roads in North America,” he said, referring to B.C.’s mountainous terrain. “This gives us another tool in the toolbox.”
Under the legislation, which still needs to be signed into law by the lieutenant-governor, dash cams must be forward-facing, retain at least 72 hours of recording, have night-vision capability, and record at a resolution of 1080p. There are still details to be worked out, including enforcement and penalties, but Stamer said he hoped the law could be in place by winter.
The legislation is one of several new measures aimed at making B.C.’s roads safer, including new regulations requiring speed-limiters for commercial trucks, and increased penalties when trucks strike overpasses. It comes as B.C. enters summer road trip season and deadly crashes tend to spike.
Last year, 19 people, including two young children and a baby, were killed on B.C. roads in a single week following the July long weekend.
The rash of crashes, three of which involved large commercial trucks, killed two entire families and caused the B.C. Coroners Service to warn drivers to be extra cautious on road trips.
According to the coroner’s service, 331 people were killed in vehicle crashes in B.C. in 2024, with one-third happening in the summer months.
ICBC data showed heavy vehicles were involved in 85 of the 302 fatalities in 2022, while over the past five years, deaths involving a heavy vehicle were highest in July and February.
Parfitt said there are many “excellent drivers” in the B.C. logging industry, but there is concern that some of the newer commercial drivers don’t have proper credentials and haven’t had adequate training.
“There is no room for amateurs when you are rolling 130,000 pounds down the highway shared with families,” he wrote in a Facebook post applauding the new law. “By having cameras, drivers will be able to ascertain the truth about the situation, and there will be no more hiding from bad driving decisions.”