Canadian Trucker Finds Profanity Has a Steep Price

If you said the “f-word” when you were younger, there’s a good chance your mother washed your mouth out with soap, but some truckers up north found out that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s penalties can be much stiffer.

Truck drivers traveling through a town in Saskatchewan are being arrested for using bad language over their citizens band radios under an obscure law, which has been on the books since the Titanic had its unfortunate encounter with an iceberg.

What’s worse for the drivers is that after being convicted and fined, they end up with a federal offense on their records. Though one trucker was able to beat the charges, he ended up losing his job and his wife.

In February 1998, winter weather was hitting Canada pretty hard, but the need to deliver freight doesn’t vanish when it snows. So before setting out on a run, a group of truckers drew straws to decide who would lead the convoy.

“There’s not enough guys who can handle heavy freight in bad weather, and I guess they thought I was crazy enough to do it,” said Ron Schofield, who drew the shortest straw.

With Schofield in the lead, the group made its way across the Trans-Canada Highway, the main road that runs east to west through the country. While traveling through Broadview, a small town in southeastern Saskatchewan, Schofield hit a patch of black ice and almost lost control of his vehicle. He immediately got on the CB to caution the trucker behind him about the dangerous conditions.

“Hey good buddy, watch out for that (expletive) patch of black ice,” he recalled saying.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer Ken McLaughlin, who was monitoring the transmission, pulled over Schofield and the driver he warned, and charged them with using profane language over the CB under a seldom-used provision of the Canadian Radio Communications Act.

For the full story, see the May 10 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.