Truckers say lack of rest stops in Sask. is unsafe

Truckers say they need more rest stops in cities and on major highways, but who’s picking up the tab?

“That’s the big question and we don’t have a definitive answer on that. If I could snap my fingers and make some appear I absolutely would,” said Nicole Sinclair, membership services liaison with the Saskatchewan Trucking Association.

The call for more rest stops comes after the City of Saskatoon warned two truckers to move after they had stopped on Melville Street in Stonebridge making a stop at the Tim Hortons. The trucking association said there’s a shortage of places where truckers can take a break from driving or stop to wait out a storm.

Sinclair described two kinds of truck stops, the full rest stop close to the Husky stop in Regina, and the highway pullout rest stop where two to three trucks can pullover and take a breather.

“They are very expensive and when you start looking at a one or two truck pullover on the side of a highway, then you have to start looking at issues like who is going to take care of the garbage, are there going to be washrooms or snow removal for it,” Sinclair said, adding there are opportunities for private businesses in these rest stops.

“There is a lot of benefit to the private industry for these sorts of truck stops, which you can see. All truck stops are full of people. They make great money so it would be nice if everyone stepped up and addressed this problem.”

Sinclair said truckers find themselves struggling to comply with safety standards that only allow them to be behind the wheel for a certain amount of hours until they need to stop driving and rest.

“There aren’t enough rest stops for truckers to obey those rules.”