Canadian Inspector Wins Top Award His First Time

By Michele Fuetsch, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Aug. 31 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

PITTSBURGH — Alex Bugeya of Ontario, Canada, became a competitor for the first time this year and earned the right to represent his province at the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s North American Inspectors Championship here.

Then, the 30-year-old inspector for Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation surprised even himself: He earned the grand champion’s award.

“It was a shock, and it’s very exciting,” Bugeya told Transport Topics. “I guess you never know exactly how well you did.”

Forty-four inspectors from Canada, Mexico and the United States were in Pittsburgh Aug. 17-23 to compete at the 17th annual inspectors championship.

The event is held each year at the same time as the National Truck Driving Championships sponsored by American Trucking Associations.

The inspectors championship is funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and managed by CVSA, which is made up of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety officials.

Bugeya won the Jimmy K. Ammons Grand Champion Award by accumulating the most points in the championship event’s seven competitive sections.

He took first place in two of the seven sections: the standard level 1 inspections and the standard hazardous materials/transportation of dangerous goods and cargo tank/bulk packaging inspection.

The event is instructive on several levels, Bugeya said.

“You will realize that maybe there are certain things you don’t focus on as much as you should,” Bugeya said. “It helps you basically take that back and apply it to what you do every day.”

After a brief vacation, some of which he expects to spend answering congratulatory e-mails and phone calls, Bugeya said he will resume his “fantastic job” filled with variety and something new each day.

“It’s very rewarding, as well, to know when you do your job and you come across something that is unsafe and you . . . get that problem corrected, that you are making a difference out there,” Bugeya said.

Charles Granger, an inspector with the Maine State Police, took home the John Youngblood Award of Excellence, named for a championship staff member who died in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.