April 6, 2011

Industry monitoring legislation on electric onboard recorders

Richard Gilbert

staff writer

The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) has adopted a new policy to ensure rules for commercial vehicles in the U.S. aren't applied inappropriately to construction vehicles in this country.

"I think this is an opportunity to distinguish ourselves from the long haul industry and say: Yes, they may need it," said Jack Davidson, president of the B.C. Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association, during the CCA's recent annual conference.

“But, we don’t need it because we are not in the same business.”

Davidson is referring to electronic on-board recorders (EOBR), which record the amount of time a commercial vehicle is driven.

The traditional method for keeping track of driving hours is for operators to keep manual records using paper log books.

However, paper-based log books are subject to forgery.

For this reason, the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing new regulations that require the use of EOBRs for all motor carriers.

There is no national policy in Canada on the use of the electronic recorders.

However, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) wants the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) to recommend a universal EOBR mandate.

This would provide a level playing field, which means the rules in Canada would be consistent with U.S. regulations.

As a result, the Civil Infrastructure Council of the CCA recently passed a motion to delay any new regulations that require the use of EOBRs for truckers in the construction industry.

“This is currently a long-haul issue, but when the infrastructure is in place, it could apply to all industries,” he said.

“There is a need for research to be done to show their value in terms of replacing a log book. If you don’t need a log book, then you don’t need one.”

The CCA is taking this position because the use of EOBRs doesn’t apply to most truckers in the construction industry.

Truckers driving within a 160-kilometre radius of where they report to work are currently exempt from log book requirements.

The CCA is also working to ensure that the industry isn’t subject to unnecessary and expensive retrofit requirements, by recommending construction vehicles are exempt from any new regulations.

An important argument in this position is that, over time, EOBRs will become standard equipment on all trucks. This means they will be phased in gradually by the manufacturer, as the existing stock of construction trucks is replaced over a 10 to 15 year period.

The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a new rule last year that required interstate commercial truck and bus companies with serious patterns of hours-of-service (HOS) violations to install EOBRs in all their vehicles.

The driving hours of commercial drivers are regulated by HOS rules intended to prevent driver fatigue, by limiting the amount of time drivers spend operating commercial vehicles.

Under the U.S. rules, which take effect in June 2012, carriers found with 10 per cent or more HOS violations during a compliance review will be required to install EOBRs in all their vehicles for a minimum of two years.

The rule also provides new technical performance standards for EOBRs installed in commercial motor vehicles, including requirements for recording the date, time and location of a driver’s duty status. Carriers who voluntarily adopt EOBRs will get relief from some requirements to retain HOS supporting documents, such as toll receipts used to check the accuracy of driver log books.

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