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Alberta semi drivers need training on securing cargo: inquiry

Semi drivers who operate trucks with open cargo should have to take a course on how to secure it properly.

KILLAM — Semi drivers who operate trucks with open cargo should have to take a course on how to secure it properly.

That’s one of the recommendations stemming from a fatality inquiry into the death of a woman who was crushed by pipe from a flatbed trailer.

Stephanie Marie Titus, 21, was killed in December 2006 when her vehicle and the semi hauling the open trailer met on an east-central Alberta highway just as the pipes were falling off.

Testimony at the inquiry suggested that straps to secure the pipe had been put on correctly, but the load had shifted and loosened them.

The inquiry judge suggested an existing course on cargo safety should be made mandatory for anyone driving an open flatbed.

He also said employers should have to verify that their drivers have taken the course before they be allowed to operate such vehicles.