Commercial vehicles can get checked for compliance, no penalties attached, at an educational inspection event in Okotoks Monday.

Law enforcement officials, including peace officers, sheriff's department officials, RCMP and commercial vehicle inspectors will be on hand to answer any questions relating to commercial vehicle regulations. Portable scales will also be on site to ensure that commercial vehicles are properly registered for their weight.

Town of Okotoks peace officer Samuel Burnett says it's all about reducing liability risks for operators, as well as keeping our roads safe and protecting our infrastructure.

"We have a lot of smaller owner-operated businesses or smaller businesses in town that we want to support," Burnett explains. "We want them to be compliant. I don't think anybody in this town doesn't want to be compliant, I just think it's a lack of knowledge. So, if we provide an opportunity to give them that knowledge, then they'll be better off in the long run."

Burnett explains that commercial vehicles can be defined as "any type of vehicle that somebody is using for the transportation of goods and passengers for their business or for work-related purposes." For example, he adds that an electrical van bringing materials to and from job sites would be classified as a commercial vehicle.

He points out that regulations surrounding commercial vehicle registration can be confusing and this event is geared towards helping clear up any questions for operators.

"If they have a little bit of knowledge and they have some specific questions they can come down and gain some information in regards to that," Burnett says. "If somebody has no information on commercial vehicles, or even if they don't know if they're supposed to be registered as a commercial vehicle, they can come down to our info session. We can go through their vehicle and tell them how they need to set everything up, how they need to register, how to register for weights, basically start to finish on how they need to properly set up their commercial vehicle so that they're within compliance."

The event will take place on Don Seaman Way in Okotoks from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, October 30.

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