If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody's there to hear it, who cares what it sounds like? However, if two logging trucks are about to make a head-on collision because they don't know the other is about to come around the corner, that's a sound nobody wants to hear.
The Sunshine Coast is one of three test areas for a pilot project on radio protocols to enhance safety for workers on roadways.
Kevin Davie, spokesman for the B.C. Community Forest Association on the Sunshine Coast, said the program has been well received here.
"There were 11 logging contractors at the B.C Forest Safety Council meeting in May, and they were impressed that radio frequencies had already been designated," Davie said.
A press release from the Ministry of Forests and Range (MOF) said that until now, truckers had to program their radios in order to access local radio channels as they moved between work locations, and signage has been poor at best. There will now be real signs on the roads (not the spray-painted boards propped up on the roadside as shown in an MOF PowerPoint presentation) that indicate which radio channel to call, call frequency, direction being travelled and vehicle type. The project is a joint venture that began in 2006 with representatives from BC Forest Safety Council/TruckSafe, MOF, BC Timber Sales, Industry Canada and FPInnovations.
"This project is a great example of a partnership that's working," said Mary Anne Arcand, director of TruckSafe. "I'm very pleased with the progress being made on safer travel in and out of the bush and look forward to province-wide implementation."
The pilot project is also underway on one road system in the Tumbler Ridge area and on Vancouver Island.
Davie said he thinks the project has a lot of merit, but one concern that has not been entirely addressed is the use of narrow logging roads by the public that does not have access to radios or the frequencies of the region.
"I would caution the public using logging roads that heavy equipment is using the roads, and they need to drive cautiously," Davie said. "They are public roads, but they are narrow, and logging trucks can't back up, so it's the public that is going to have to move."
Warren Hansen, spokesman for the B.C. Association of Forest Professionals, said all the signage and standardized radio communication in the world can never be a replacement for common sense.
"Don't assume everyone has a radio, and do assume there is a logging truck around every corner. Slow down," he said.
