B.C.’s labour critic wants unsafe farm vans pulled from roads
Posted December 11, 2009 12:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – B.C.’s labour critic is pushing for unsafe 15 passenger vans to be pulled from B.C. roads. NDP’s Raj Chouhan is disappointed a coroner’s jury didn’t make the same recommendation in the inquest into the death of three farm workers who died in an Abbotsford van crash.
Chouhan says the recommendations just don’t go far enough when it comes to unsafe vehicles on B.C. roads. He says he will be pushing for vans similar to the one involved in the crash to be banned. “I will ask the minister and encourage him that they should take that step immediately to protect farm workers before the next picking season starts next year.”
He calls some of the recommendations a good step forward – including calls for tougher inspections and trucks staying in the slow lane during bad weather. The three women died when the 15 seat van, equipped with only two seatbelts, flipped over a meridian on highway one in 2007.
However, B.C. Minister of Labour Murray Coell says he won’t consider the ban because it isn’t in the list of official recommendations.
He does say a number of things in the report could be approved by early spring. “Increase safety inspections of the vans, improve the number of inspections that we’re doing, they suggest we do more, and we’ll consider that.”
He says fines and penalties could also go up for those operating unsafe vehicles.
