The trucker who hit the Main Street overpass with an overheight load in February has been fined $2,500.
Lovedeep Singh, a Calgary resident, pleaded guilty in North Vancouver Provincial Court Wednesday to one Commercial Transportation Act count of operating a commercial vehicle in contravention of a permit.
Singh was transporting a piece of heavy equipment from Vancouver Island to a customer in Abbotsford when the top of the grader struck the overpass as Singh neared the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing bridgehead around 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 28.
Damage to the overpass was relatively minimal, though one lane of traffic had to be closed for several hours.
When the province’s commercial vehicle safety and enforcement investigator arrived a short time later, Singh was deflating the tires on the grader in an attempt lower the height of his load, the court heard.
Singh told the investigator that the shipper he was picking the load up from would not allow him to measure the grader on site due to safety reasons but that it was under the 4.3-metre limit prescribed in his permit.
The CVSE investigator found the actual height to be 4.47 m and that even without air in the tires, the height was still greater than 4.3 m. At its lowest point in the slow lane, the overpass is 4.45 m — two centimetres less than the highest point measured on the heavy equipment.
At the time, Singh also faced a $598 ticket for having falsified driving logs and $311 for working more than the permitted hours.
CVSE pulled Singh off the road for 72 hours and the trucking company he was working for was required to obtain a new temporary permit and bring in a new driver to get the rig off the side of Highway 1.
Less than 72 hours later though, the same CVSE officer spotted the same truck and trailer leaving a gas station in Abbotsford with Singh at the wheel. At that point, the temporary overheight permit had expired and the officer confirmed that, again, the permit did not accurately reflect the actual height of the load. Singh was ticketed again.
Crown counsel Carla Risley argued in court that Singh should face an additional fine of $5,000. The crash came at a time when the province was cracking down on careless truckers who were responsible for an increasing number overpass strikes.
Singh, however, said he could not afford a $5,000 fine. He told the court he only makes between $1,200 and $3,000 per month because he is paid only a percentage of the price of a trip.
“I’m also making sure that these kinds of incidents don’t happen again — or any other incident,” he said.
Judge Steven Merrick said other truckers facing similar charges in the future may get higher fines but in the case before the court, he noted that Singh was remorseful, that he pleaded guilty and that he had been misinformed about the height of the load.
“The actual harm to the public was a delay in traffic, but the potential harm was far greater. It could have damaged a significant piece of infrastructure, that being the overpass over Highway 1, and of course, there’s also the potential for injury to Mr. Singh and others who use the highway,” he said.
“A message needs to be sent, not only to Mr. Singh, but those other people who use the roadways and transport large equipment that they must be compliant.”
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