Sarnia council has accepted a new bylaw to allow the use of commercial off-road vehicles on city streets, but hopes to adjust it further with the provincial government.
Staff from JD Lawn Service educated council on the equipment they use and highlighted the issues they're facing during Monday's meeting.
Operations Manager Heather Dawson said when they started using rugged terrain vehicles [RTV] police were unsure how to handle them on the road.
"The recommendation was for us to have them plated, which we did," said Dawson. "Since then we've had no issues up until recently."
Director Bonnie Dawson said their snow removal equipment has been targeted with fines and in some cases forcibly towed from the road.
"As you can imagine, during a winter weather event, time is of the absolute essence, and having our equipment unavailable, results in a delay of service which could pose a serious safety and liability issue for our company and for the general public," said Bonnie.
The Dawsons said the new bylaw wouldn't exempt them from a Highway Traffic Act requirement for staff to wear helmets and travel at a maximum speed of 20 kilometres per hour [km/h] in a 50 zone.
"Given the safety features of these machines, the requirements seem unnecessary," said Heather. "Wearing a helmet in an RTV, is like asking you to start wearing a helmet in your car."
She also argued that the requirement to travel at a lower speed would present more safety issues and that it contradicts a recently passed bylaw allowing low speed vehicles on city streets.
Sarnia's General Manager of Engineering and Operations David Jackson explained that the city's hands are tied.
"The requirement for a helmet and the speed limit of 20 km/h is a provincial issue that we can't override with a municipal bylaw," said Jackson.
Councillor George Vandenberg, a former police officer who now works as a paralegal, offered up a possible solution after pointing out that he's been "dealing with the Highway Traffic Act for 40 years."
"What we have to do is we have to go back to the provincial government and we have to petition the Minister of Transportation to make some changes," said Vandenberg. "Because, the problem is right now, we have off road vehicles, we have different acts, different regulations that are sliding past each other and that's the problem we get with the helmet issue. So, we have to go back and see if we can get an amendment to the Ontario regulations, which is possible, no problem."
Vandenberg gave Jackson credit for "crafting a new bylaw that gives us some exemptions."
"I did send an email the other day about the over-width blade [issue]. We talked about a fleet permit fee for $390 I believe it was, that would offset that for now. I know it's a cost to them but, it would be a lot cheaper than getting all the tickets and all the towing costs that are associated with what you folks have had," Vandenberg said to the representatives from JD Lawn.
Council agreed to pursue the provincial matters further through Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey's office.