Heavy commercial trucks have their own speed limit in British Columbia.
Any commercial vehicle over 11,793 kilograms, manufactured after 1994 with electronically-controlled engines, are required to be speed limited to 105 km/h on BC roads.
According to the BC Highway Patrol (BCHP), an allegedly impaired driver was busted late last month because the speed limiter in their commercial flatdeck truck had been turned off.
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The vehicle was stopped on Hwy 1 eastbound near Popkum, in the Chilliwack area, around 4 pm on April 30.
Police were alerted to the vehicle after it was lasered going 121 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.
After speaking with the driver, a BCHP officer had reason to believe he was impaired and administered a pair of breathalyzer tests that both produced a ‘fail’ reading.
“Combining speed with impairment is mixing two of the biggest risk factors in fatal collisions in BC,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin. “Put that combination in a commercial vehicle and that danger is too high to ignore.”
The 46-year-old North Vancouver man behind the wheel of the commercial truck was handed a 90-day immediate roadside prohibition for impaired driving and the vehicle was towed away to be impounded for 30 days.
He also received a pair of tickets for speeding and turning off the speed limiter that totalled $564, and will face several hundred dollars in administrative fees for impaired driving.
“Heavy commercial vehicles require careful driving because they take a long time to stop and manoeuvre at speed and cause major damage when things go wrong,” added McLaughlin.
“Turning off a speed limiter is poor judgment. It’s not a coincidence that an impaired driver might exercise such poor judgment.”
