It’s up to the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol to monitor the braking systems of commercial vehicles in the province daily. And in 2026, the force has been removing a higher number of vehicles from the road. From Aug. 25-27, officers inspected nearly 300 vehicles near Swift Current during Operation Air Brake — removing 103 from service. The 103 vehicles include 62 that had brake component or brake adjustment defects. “They rely heavily on that braking capacity, and if it’s affected it likely would result in a significant catastrophic event,” said Alex Heron, an inspector with the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol. There are different levels of inspection. Level 1 inspections take roughly an hour to complete, requiring patrol members to climb under the car and see and measure the braking systems by hand. “We are going to look at the mechanical fitness to the truck and trailer. That entails looking at a number of critical inspection components,” explained Connor MacDonald, a special constable for the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol. Failing a brake inspection results in a vehicle being taken out of service, which Heron said is happening at a higher rate this year. “Either the maintenance programs are slipping, or the drivers are not going underneath and doing proper inspections,” Heron said. The Saskatchewan Trucking Association represents over 170 companies in the province. Susan Ewart is the executive director of the association. She said the organization supports safety blitzes, and they advocate for more enforcement. “We want to get rid of the non-compliance that’s happening in the industry, because it is a burden on the industry,” Ewart said. “It doesn’t create a level playing field for businesses and it creates unsafe road conditions.” Operation Air Brake ran for 72 consecutive hours, with 39 inspectors from across the province working in shifts. The event was part of Brake Safety Week, where similar inspection blitzes happened across Canada, the United States and Mexico. A report will be filed on the overall findings and the outlook of commercial vehicle safety on a larger scale. With files from Blair Farthing
