PoCo looks to ICBC for help dealing with troublesome trucks

Port Coquitlam may need to teach a lesson to some of the city’s truck driving schools.

There are 29 driving schools in the city, some of which seem to allow their students to drive heavy vehicles through residential neighbourhoods and endanger oncoming traffic by cutting through narrow streets. Learner drivers also create congestion when they get stuck at intersections, according to the city’s director of community safety and corporate services Dominic Long.

During a recent city council meeting, Mayor Brad West said the city needed to “draw a harder line” in dealing with what had become a prolonged issue in the city.

“It’s not a case of not knowing, it’s a case of: ‘I don’t think I’m going to get caught, or there won’t be any consequence to being caught,’” he said. “If they can’t train these drivers in a way that’s compliant with our bylaws, then maybe they shouldn’t be issued a business licence.”

Coun. Darrell Penner concurred.

“Their instructors are actually teaching bad habits,” he said. “I see them pulled over in areas where it says No Stopping.”

City staff recently reached out to ICBC about the problem, Long explained, adding that, if necessary, the insurance provider could pull test dates from non-compliant driving schools.

While no driving tests have been cancelled yet, ICBC is trying to keep trucks on trucking routes, Long explained.

“Driving schools are no longer permitted by ICBC to go on any road other than official truck routes posted by the city,” he wrote in an email to the Dispatch.

The city is also dealing with problems from dump truck trailers, some of which have insecure loads and are “using Port Coquitlam roads due to the increased operations at the Coquitlam quarry or Burke Mountain development,” Long added.

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