Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services: Posted on February 19, 2019 11:19 AM
Cocaine bust in Alberta At the Sweetgrass / Coutts border crossing into Alberta a transport truck was pulled over for secondary screening because the driver was on the CBSA radar as suspected of involvement in drug trafficking. During inspection the CBSA border officers came across 83 one-kilogram bundles of cocaine stashed in different locations within the cab area. The cocaine, valued at $5 million, was found behind the microwave, under a mattress, in a duffel bag and inside the two jockey boxes. Upon the truck being returned from the impound lot to the truck’s owner, there was a further 17 one-kilogram packages that had apparently not been found during inspection at the border. The 54-year-old driver was from British Columbia and the junior driver, 32 years old, resides in Ontario. The younger driver was new to Canada and to trucking, barely spoke English and needed a translator during the inspection, questioning and trial. Both drivers claimed that they were completely unaware of the cocaine being in the truck. During the trial it was concluded that there was not enough hard evidence such as DNA or fingerprints to prove beyond reasonable doubt that these two drivers had anything to do with the placement of the cocaine in the truck. It was concluded that the younger driver’s charges of possession with the intent to traffic and importation of drugs into Canada were dismissed and the senior driver, 54, his charges were stopped due to his passing away. I chose not to identify names in this article out of respect to the families related to the death of one of the drivers. For more information about this article or safety & compliance programs such as CTPAT, FAST, PIP, TTP, AEO, CSA, please contact Cross Border Services at www.crossborderservices.org dawntruell@gmail.com
|
|
Dawn Truell crossborderservices.ca: Posted on July 23, 2018 11:00 AM
By: Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services July 23, 2018 Notice - Cannabis Despite the fact that cannabis (marijuana) will become legal and regulated in Canada in the near future, it will remain illegal to take cannabis across Canada’s national borders, whether you are entering or leaving Canada.
|
|
Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services www.crossborderservices.ca : Posted on April 12, 2017 10:44 AM
April 11, 2017
Urgent Terror Alert for Truck
Drivers Stockholm, Sweden, Friday, April 7, 2017, a
terrorist stole a company's tractor trailer and used it to try to murder
innocent civilians walking in the streets of Stockholm. In Sweden this has not
been experienced before and was completely a shock to everyone there. During
this past year many similar incidents have happened, specifically in Berlin,
Germany, Nice, France, and London, England. The US CBP Department of
Homeland Security, Officer Dan Bauer from the JFK International Airport office,
has issued an urgent notice to all truck drivers, owner operators and
transportation companies to be “..Vigilant and see that their drivers and
vehicles are not in jeopardy of falling victim to such diabolical
actions.” Please see the following
preventative measures suggested by this Officer: - Maintain regular communication with your dispatcher.
- If rest stops are necessary, park in areas where
other truckers are present. Thieves don’t like crowds.
- Do not stop on dark freeways or deserted areas while
waiting to make deliveries.
- Make it a point to stop at only reputable truck
stops along your route. And don’t stop at the same location every time.
- Be aware of vehicles that are following your truck
and of strangers asking questions about your load.
- Be suspicious of individuals making you stop as a
result of an alleged traffic collision. Hijackers frequently use this ruse
to get drivers to stop. If you are unsure whether a crash has occurred,
drive to a well-lit busy location before stopping.
- Always lock your tractor doors and make sure all
trailer and container doors are secured with a heavy padlock. Keep your
tractor windows up until you are on the open road or freeway.
- Be especially watchful immediately after picking up
your load. The majority of armed hijacking occur within a few miles of the
point of pickup. Freeway on/off ramps are particularly dangerous.
- If you are hijacked or you find that your load has
been stolen, immediately notify the local policy (dial 911) and then your
dispatcher.
- If you are hijacked, always and immediately do as
instructed by the thieves, but also listen to what is being said and the
sounds around you. It may provide law enforcement with valuable
information on where your vehicle was taken to.
- Try to provide a description of the suspect(s) and
the vehicle(s) used by the suspects.
- Carry information on your person concerning the ID
of the tractor and trailers including license numbers. Law enforcement
can’t report your truck stolen without this information.
- Do not talk about your load on the radio. Cargo
thieves can and do listen to your conversations.
As per US CBP DHS
Officer Dan Bauer, all of us can fall prey to terrorists, we need to keep diligent
in our day-to-day practices to ensure everyone’s safety.
Dan’s further
comments: “Thank you everybody for your
continued participation in this important effort by the program to
maintain secure trade in a safe supply chain. Your input, vigilance, and
expertise has been critical to our successes up to this point. A long
road is still ahead but we are confident that with your help we will get to
where we need to be.”
For more information about transportation
and aiding in the fight against drug smuggling, anti terrorism, safety &
compliance programs such as C-TPAT, FAST, PIP, CSA, please contact Cross Border
Services at www.crossborderservices.ca dawntruell@gmail.com
|
|
Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services: Posted on September 13, 2016 10:54 AM
By: Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services Sept 13, 2016 3 days post truck driver charged in the death of an Ottawa cyclist, president of Greater Ottawa Truckers Association Ron Barr, defending truck drivers, "bikes shouldn't have been made equal to trucks on the road."
Conley, the truck driver, charged with criminal negligence causing death, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and dangerous driving causing death, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
There are limitations for Truck Drivers due to the size of their vehicles, if you can imagine, they cannot see you when they are turning, the mirrors don't allow the truck driver to see behind, beside or underneath whilst in a turn. Please be aware of this fact and be cautious when riding a bicycle near a Truck.
|
|
Dawn Truell, President, Cross Border Services: Posted on February 17, 2016 2:28 PM

In
the Transportation Industry we have all been told about the importance of
conducting our safety inspections pre trip and post trip. These safety
inspections are mandatory for both our driver logs for the MTO and DOT
requirements as well as those of us who are part of the C-TPAT, FAST, PIP and
CSA Programs. But, are we all actually doing this every single day prior to
every single load that we do? Somewhere I think that the importance for safety
has been lost.
Recently
an innocent passenger vehicle driving along the highway 400 near King City, ON,
January 27, 2015, 9:20 AM, was struck by two flying loose commercial truck tires.
The gentleman driving that vehicle was killed when the two tires hit the
windshield shattering it to bits and collapsing the roof of his vehicle. Unfortunately
the truck driver, carrying a load of lumber, continued for 2 km before stopping
to realize what had just happened. The 69-year-old, Paul Koenderman, from
Burlington, ON, former CEO of Aecon Group Inc., was air lifted to a Toronto hospital
where he died from his injuries sustained when the two 200 lb. truck tires came
loose from the commercial truck body and hit his GMC Yukon.

The
amount of truck tires coming loose from the truck bodies whilst driving has
increased from 2010 and in fact just last year in 2015 there were 127 incidents
of these detached wheels just in Ontario.
With
the new Operation Wheel Check that was launched in Ontario in December 2015,
the requirements are getting more strict and to enforce this action the fines
are getting steeper ranging from $2,000 for minor infraction to $50,000 for
wheel separation. Daily inspections are an absolute liability law by the MTO
and requires companies to do specific specialized training for the technicians
that are involved in the wheel installations.
Ministry
enforcement with on-road inspections by specially trained police officers has
become the norm and their eyes are peeled for those operators failing to do
their proper inspections. Just since December 2015 there have been 1,800 trucks
and 10,000 wheels inspected by the ministry.
Cutting
corners for truck safety inspections seems like a time saving idea when one is
in a hurry to make a shipment as time is money in our JIT era, however, we must
remember that lives are far more important here than monetary gains, after all,
what are we working for everyday? Money to support our lives and our families;
think about everyone else’s families out there that we could potentially be
putting in danger by not performing our daily pre trip and post trip
inspections properly. It shouldn’t have to take someone’s life to remind us of
how important these safety inspections truly are. The trucking company involved
in this unfortunate accident stated that their last inspection on this truck
was done January 22 and that their standard practice is to only inspect the
trucks once per week; according to MTO standards, you must inspect your truck
Daily for safety of the vehicle including it’s tires.
|
|