Alberta boots 20 unsafe trucking companies as crackdown targets ‘chameleon’ carriers
Author: Alex Dhaliwal
Alberta is hammering rogue truckers, booting 20 carriers off its roads and issuing 443 penalties in an escalating safety crackdown.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said Alberta has removed 20 unsafe carriers since October, including 13 “chameleon carriers” accused of changing names or operations to evade regulators.
The province has issued 443 penalties, eliminated 13 “chameleon” carriers and blocked another 40 from obtaining safety certificates as its trucking crackdown intensifies.
“Our government is continuing to take tough enforcement action to improve safety across the trucking industry,” Dreeshen said Thursday.
“We are applying vigilant oversight of carriers and driver training schools through inspections, audits and targeted investigations.”
And the 13 caught operating are only part of the crackdown.
Alberta says documentation reviews prevented another 40 chameleon carriers from obtaining safety fitness certificates, while six carriers were removed from the International Registration Plan over the past year for misrepresenting their jurisdiction.
One of the most serious cases involved Conquer Transportation Inc., which was shut down after a fatal Manitoba collision exposed “willful and sustained non-compliance” and chameleon practices.
The province slapped the company with $16,500 in administrative penalties and downgraded its Safety Fitness Rating to Unsatisfactory, effectively shutting it down immediately.
The latest figures show Alberta’s trucking crackdown has intensified considerably since Juno News first reported on the province’s enforcement blitz.