WESTLOCK – Westlock-area peace officers took aim at drivers with unsecured loads April 10, the first focused enforcement effort of 2021 to combat what they say is a “huge” issue on area highways, specifically around the landfill and Westlock County transfer stations.
Town of Westlock community peace officer Randy Burgess said that the Saturday-afternoon checkstop, a combined effort between the town and county that focused on untarped/unsecured trailer loads heading to the Westlock Regional Landfill south east of town, is part of a continued effort that runs yearly throughout the spring and summer, with the next slated for early May.
Simply, landowners around the landfill and transfer stations are continually faced with having to clear trash from their fields, ditches and yards when people don’t tarp their loads, said Burgess. At Saturday’s 60-minute checkstop, cut short due to the snow, they handed out four $486 unsecured-load tickets and five other Traffic Safety Act tickets.
“It’s a huge problem. The farmer that has the fields between Westlock and Range Road 262, which is the landfill road, has to spend time every year before he can even farm the land cleaning up garbage that has blown off of loads,” said Burgess. “It’s a big issue for sure. And it’s not just a spring problem, it’s just worse in the spring because that’s when people clean up their yards and head out to the landfill and forget the last step of tying down and tarping their loads.”
Safety is also a concern, Burgess noted, as a tree branch or other large item could cause serious damage to a vehicle if it flew out of the back of a trailer or truck box at highway speeds.
“Especially this time of year when people are cleaning up yard waste, like small tree trunks and things like that. If those fall off of a vehicle and another vehicle behind hits it, it could cause significant damage, or even go through a windshield,” he said.
As for compliance, Burgess said offenders usually fall into a couple of categories, ranging from not knowing the law, forgetting, or just being lazy. Under the Traffic Safety Act, an unsecured-load ticket for a passenger vehicle carries a $486 fine, while commercial vehicles can face an $810 fine under the province’s commercial vehicle safety regulations.
“A lot of it is that they just forget to tarp their loads — they were busy cleaning their yard and forgot to tie it down. There are a few who try and skip the step to save themselves some time … there’s been instances when the tie downs are right there beside them in the vehicle,” he said.
No wood at transfer stations due to fire restriction
Effective April 8, Westlock County will not be accepting wood and brush at the transfer stations due to the current fire restriction and are asking that residents keep that specific refuse at home.
For more, visit the fire services portion of Westlock County’s website.
