Vehicle inspection blitz comes to Aylmer

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Inspector Thomas Hansen, left, directed a police officer to where he could be of assistance during a commercial vehicle inspection blitz on Progress Drive in Aylmer on Tuesday morning, March 8. Mr. Hansen had just used an on-board diagnostic scanner to find out why a check engine light was signalling on the dash of a commercial van that was stopped for an inspection while it was driving by the IGPC ethanol plant. Mr. Hansen said the “vast majority” of check engine lights he uses the scanner for indicate a vehicle has some sort of “emission failure.” Mr. Hansen and other provincial officers with his Ministry along with the Ministry of Transportation, police officers and municipal workers were involved in the commercial vehicle inspection blitz for most of that day in the industrial area of Aylmer. The inspectors were also looking for overweight and unsafe commercial vehicles. Mr. Hansen was specifically looking to inspect waste hauling vehicles and any other commercial vehicle for compliance under the Environmental Protection Act (emission violations). “I have a variety of tools to ensure and gain compliance,” he said. “They span from verbal warnings to an order to repair a vehicle to tickets.” A fine issued by Mr. Hansen would cost $300 plus a $65 victim fine surcharge.