Ontario Provincial Police have busted a transport truck driver they say was almost three times over the legal limit for alcohol while hauling a full load of dangerous goods.
Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says a number of drivers along Hwys 409, 401 and 400 called 911 Tuesday afternoon to report bizarre behaviour from a big rig driver.
"We got calls from all sorts of folks on the highway reporting this transport truck driving erratically, slowly, weaving through lanes, stopping in live lanes of traffic. The driver looked like he was falling asleep," Schmidt told NEWSTALK 1010's Moore in the Morning Thursday.
OPP approached the driver on Hwy 400 at Major Mackenzie Dr. at about 1 p.m.
Schmidt says the driver wouldn't pull over and stopped instead in a live lane of the highway. When officers approached the driver they found the smell of alcohol 'all over him' with a load of explosive and flammable material in the back.
Schmidt does not know exactly what the driver had been hauling or where he picked up his load. But he was set to drive cross-country, to British Columbia.
In a video posted to his Twitter account, Schmidt calls the behaviour "unbelievably irresponsible".
Transport truck driver charged with Impaired and Dangerous driving after registering nearly 3x the legal limit https://t.co/BBzk6ttFnx
— Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) December 7, 2017
On Moore in the Morning Schmidt said while getting behind the wheel drunk is not acceptable for any driver, truckers are held to a higher standard
"They have extra training, they are caring a larger responsibility and they have more potential to cause an incredible amount of damage."
33-year-old Iqbal Singh Sidhu of Abbotsford, B.C. is charged with impaired driving, dangerous driving and driving over the legal limit.
In October, OPP commissioner Vince Hawkes slammed careless truck drivers and put the industry 'on notice' that police would pursue every investigative avenue to hold those drivers to account.
Last month the Ontario Trucking Association asked the government to make mandatory drug and alcohol testing for commercial truck drivers as part of a five-point plan to improve safety.
The Ontario Safety League has called for a coroner's inquest into deadly crashes involving transport trucks to address issues of driver training, truck engineering, and design.