By Matt Fetinko

Commercial vehicle chaos

Locals fed up with dangerous truck drivers along Upper Fraser Road

Jun 20, 2020 | 3:43 PM

WILLOW RIVER — People living along Upper Fraser Road say dangerous driving along the road by truck drivers has been going on for years. Residents say it’s been especially bad lately and if something doesn’t change, it’s only a matter of time before someone dies. A few of the complaints we gathered from residents are as follow:

“We have school busses on this road. The way these trucks are driving, if they smash into one of them and kill four, five, six kids, then what are they going to do?”

“We live in a 60km/h zone. One in fifty trucks might do 60 on that stretch, most trucks slow down to about 85, if at all, but most is well over 100km/h. We have children that have grown up on this road and still one more who wants to ride her bike into Willow [River] in the summertime but I’m scared to death to let her on the road.”

“The road is just not meant to handle 300 plus logging trucks a day, loaded. It’s narrow, in bad condition, very little money gets spent out this way.”

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“Why aren’t they using the Forest Service Roads that are designed for them rather than using these roads which are not. And if they are not serviceable, why are they not being fixed?”

This issue is not new, with complaints building over the last few years. However, the last few weeks have been especially bad and part of that has to do with the time of year. According to a statement from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, “In late spring, industrial routes such as Upper Fraser can see an increase in heavy industrial traffic. The ministry’s Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement officers regularly patrol this route, and proactively increase patrols this time of year to meet the increase in traffic. As part of our regular safety programs, the ministry is currently reviewing signage along this route to ensure it is appropriate and effective.” Residents argue that does not seem to be doing the trick as one man said, “As soon as [one driver] sees them, they get on their radios and say slow down. So they get away with it.”

Residents say they have sent in complaints over the years but it has all fallen on deaf ears. The Ministry, meanwhile, wrote there have been no complaints regarding commercial vehicles along Upper Fraser Road this spring, anyone with concerns are asked to call their district office at 250-565-4410.