November 1, 2017 Vol. 14 No. 22

 Before I write anything else, let me offer an apology concerning a bad link in The Lockwood Report of October 18 with the suggestive title, ‘The ELD Quagmire’. I referred to the likely differences between Canadian and American versions of the electronic logging device mandate but sent you to an utterly useless place. I corrected it in the online version of the newsletter but was too late to alter the one e-mailed to a million or so of you. The correct link is this one.

Thanks are due to several readers who bitched and moaned. And rightly so.

Speaking of which — ELDs, that is, not bitching and moaning — my colleague John G. Smith, editor of Today’s Trucking, subsequently wrote a useful story on the subject of the coming Canadian rules. They’ve been delayed, it seems, until the spring of 2019 at the earliest.

I’ve been critical of — if not astonished by — the fact that the U.S. approach has manufacturers self-certifying their own ELD devices. Deliciously, John’s story quotes Private Motor Truck Council of Canada president Mike Millian who shares my concern about that.

“It’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard of,” Millian said, noting how some devices were registered before rules were even finalized. Agreed, for sure, but Transport Canada has indicated that it plans to follow a similar path. Nuts. Incroyable.

“If you’re running into the states and don’t have ELDs installed, you’re already late,” Millian continued. Best practices involve reviewing two or three suppliers, installing devices in all vehicles, and then training drivers and office teams alike. “It’s not something you’re going to do by flicking a switch.”

I won’t simply repeat the entire article here, but you can read that sorry tale here. It’s important.

AND ON TO DRIVER TRAINING, a subject dear to my heart. The PIT Group has released a driver training effectiveness study, which is said to indicate the true value of driver monitoring to address bad habits and reinforce efficient performance techniques.

The Quebec-based PIT Group is a research and engineering outfit focused on improving fleet maintenance and operations.