A private-members bill to mandate dash cameras on all commercial vehicles travelling B.C. highways has passed unanimously through the legislature.
B.C. Conservative member Ward Stamer says the bill started with families along Highway 5 in his Kamloops-North Thompson constituency who have buried their loved ones after preventable crashes.
Stamer says in a statement that it finishes with B.C. leading the country on commercial vehicle safety.
He says the cameras hold drivers accountable, and make sure that when a crash happens the evidence isn't lost, disputed or "buried in a yearlong investigation."
The statement says the B.C. Trucking Association endorsed the bill, noting that about 75 per cent of collisions involving a commercial vehicle aren't the fault of that driver.
The bill will come into force six months after receiving royal assent.
Stamer called for mandatory dash cameras three years ago — when he was mayor of Barriere — after a series of fatal crashes on Highway 5.
"Good ideas shouldn't belong to one party," Stamer says in the statement issued Tuesday. "Every member who voted for this heard from constituents who've lost people on our highways. This is what the legislature should look like."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
