Alberta creates exclusion zone around collisions to deter predatory tow truck drivers
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen says concerns have been raised about tow truck drivers showing up at car accidents and pressuring those involved to unnecessarily accept their services.
Dreeshen says in some cases tow truck drivers charge excessive fees and don't provide necessary information to those whose vehicles are towed.
Starting Friday, the province is implementing a 200-metre exclusion zone around accident scenes, and tow trucks must stay back unless police or drivers involved say otherwise.
Dreeshen says if tow truck drivers don't respect the exclusion zone, they can be fined $1,000.
The rules are nearly identical to a bylaw passed earlier this year by Calgary city council, and Dreeshen says all Albertans will now have the same protection.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Edmonton Journal
29 minutes ago
- Edmonton Journal
Bell: Premier Smith, Alberta auto insurance rates ugly no matter how you slice it
Article content The latest Smith government document says they have 'restrained premium growth' but 'auto insurance rates are no longer adequate to pay for the actual cost of insurance in the province.' Article content In real people talk, Albertans have to pay up. Article content The Smith government doesn't want to go with a public auto insurance system because they say Albertans want choice and the ability to shop around and it takes billions of dollars to build out a public system. Article content Horner, speaking for the Smith government, says with a 7.5 per cent maximum premium hike for good drivers the actual costs of insurance are not reflected. The premiums are 'artificially low.' Article content Smith's point man on insurance says most companies are taking in less from us than they are paying out to us. Article content Insurance companies are steamed about the rate cap though they are happy the ability to sue is, in Horner's words, 'very narrow.' Article content Article content Horner says there is no decision to lift the rate hike cap but the numbers say it's something they probably need to look at. Article content He says if the government hadn't capped increases to the premiums of good drivers at 7.5 per cent a year the average premium here would be about $400 a year higher and Alberta would have the most expensive auto insurance in the country. Article content As for now? Horner admits it's a tough sell. The rate cap really has riled up insurers. Article content 'What we've done right now is a finger in the dike and it isn't sustainable. It's making it more challenging for people to understand the savings that will exist January 1, 2027.' Article content What does Horner have to say to Albertans who believed there would be more relief from high premiums? Article content Article content Maybe it doesn't matter as much to folks making big coin. Article content Maybe it doesn't plague the mind of someone tooling down the road in their shiny set of wheels heading to their swanky vacation home. Article content But it does matter to those Albertans who are just trying to balance their chequebook, haven't scored big in this economy and where the cost of living is taking an ever-bigger bite. Article content Horner says no politician would ever wade into the insurance issue unless they really wanted to make things better. Article content He thinks Alberta will land on a system where people in an accident 'will get their care early and immediately and largely we're taking away the need to have to sue.' Article content
CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
Car struck by train in Brampton, no injuries reported
No injuries reported after a car was struck by a train near Mississauga Rd. and Bovaird Dr. on Wednesday evening.
CBC
4 hours ago
- CBC
Little action on Hwy 69 expansion as new bridges sit unused
Two brand-new highway bridges in the northeast remain unused, eight years after they were built for the future twinning of Highway 69. The highway runs from Sudbury to Nobel, Ont., where it turns into Highway 400. Some 68 kilometres of the route remain an undivided, two-lane highway. During a previous expansion, construction crews built two bridges south of Grundy Lake Provincial park. Those will carry the future highway over a re-alignment of the CN Railway mainline. But since their completion in 2017, the bridges have yet to carry car traffic, and the railway has not been re-routed. In the meantime, plants have started growing on the gravel highway right-of-way and on the bridges themselves. The unfinished railbed also has plants growing out of it, and there are places where erosion has worn away parts of the surface. Bridges in 'excellent condition' In a statement, Ontario's Ministry of Transportation said the bridges do not require maintenance because they are not open to the public. However, a spokesperson for the ministry said the bridges were in excellent condition when inspected last year. Plant growth can eventually harm the integrity of structures like bridges, said Scott Walbridge, the chair of University of Waterloo's civil and environmental engineering department. Walbridge said he couldn't speak to these bridges specifically, because he hadn't seen them in person. However, he said damages due to environmental exposure, like rusting and plant growth, tend to be a gradual processes that makes impacts over a long period of time. "It would be something a bridge owner would ideally want to stay on top of, if the intention is to eventually use these structures, in order to avoid potentially larger long-term costs," he said. Associate professor Rania Al-Hammoud, also from University of Waterloo, agreed that the plant growth has likely had a minimal impact so far, but it's hard to tell without inspecting the structures firsthand. She said if plant roots reach the steel reinforcements, the steel can rust and grow up to 10 times in size. That puts pressure and strain on the concrete. However, without any traffic on the bridges, Al-Hammoud said they are also subject to less fatigue stress, which could improve their lifespan. The MTO spokesperson said the bridges would be waterproofed and paved before they open, and the roadbeds would have their gravel replaced as necessary. The bridges are expected to have a lifespan of 75 years. CBC News asked CN about the erosion and plant growth on its future railbed, and why it hadn't yet shifted the mainline to the new alignment. A spokesperson declined to comment, saying all questions should be directed to the MTO. Lack of clear timelines 'frustrating' The New Democrat MPP for Sudbury, Jamie West, recently co-wrote a letter to the transport minister, alongside Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas. The letter expressed frustration over a lack of new action on Highway 69. West said they penned the letter after the premier's recent comment at a Thunder Bay press conference, that he was "all in" on highways in the north. MTO continues to say that expanding Highway 69 is a priority project. However, West said the province continues to be vague on its timelines for twinning the highway. "We need improvements across the north. But pretending [the premier] is talking about Highway 69 when he's 12, 13 hours away from Highway 69, you know, it's not really fair to get people's hopes up," said West. Last year, the province announced it had struck a tentative agreement with Shawanaga First Nation on expanding the highway through its territory. Earlier this year, the Chief of Henvey Inlet said he hoped to ratify a deal for his community by this summer. According to 2021 statistics, Highway 69 carried more than 11,000 vehicles per day at its busiest section, near Estaire. Those numbers trend higher in the summer.
