By Surbhi Gogia
West Coast Trucking Association organized a rally for BC truckers on the streets of Vancouver to express their concerns regarding hardships they face on highways
SURREY: Past few days, truckers have been occupying media headlines for their rallies. The Freedom convoy of truckers heading towards Ottawa to protest against federal government’s vaccine mandates is different from the rally that BC truckers organized last week in Vancouver.
The rally last week that started from Gurudwara Dashmesh Darbar in Surrey and went to downtown Vancouver, was about highlighting truckers’ concern about bad driving conditions on BC highways. It was organized by West Coast Trucking Association (WCTA), the organization which is dedicated to advocating concerns related to driving as well as promoting a safety, dependable and efficiency in transportation system.
On its Instagram post, the Association wrote that “our brothers are losing their lives every day on the icy highways which are totally neglected by the authorities with regards to cleaning and deicing.” More than 350 truckers joined the rally to demonstrate their support to the issues raised by the Association.
Ajay Singh Toor, general secretary, WCTA, while talking about last week’s rally, said, “It was extremely successful. Everything went smooth and we express our thank to the city of Surrey and Vancouver who were very supportive during the demonstration.”
Toor while highlighting the demands of the truckers said that truckers have been facing extremely difficult situation on the highways due to which many of our brothers have lots their lives. “Our demands are very simple. We want clean highways, we want snow removal on highways to prevent the accidents. We also want clean washrooms.”
Toor said, “The restrooms are in bad conditions. For touriststhe restrooms are good, they are clean but we truckers are not allowed to use those restrooms.”
He informed that if truckers stop on a service road (a road where you can park and pick up stuff) to pick up coffee, the by law officer comes to give the ticket even though there are no signs.
“Last week the highway was closed for almost 18 hours people. Truckers who were stuck in Golden when they came to Kamloops after highway was opened they ran out of food. When they stopped to pick up food and coffee, the by law officer gave them ticket. Even though there were no signs.”
He said truckers who report harsh highway conditions on the government’s DriveBC website are being informed so many complaints are coming in, they should be emailing highway maintenance contractors instead.
But he said it was impossible for drivers to know which of 28 government contractors are in charge of particular highways across the province.
He said the association contacted the Transportation Ministry last month and has also reached out to members of the legislature.
Toor was hopeful that the rally was able to highlight their demands and higher officials from Transportation department would in talk with the association soon to work on their concerns.
