OTA supports SPIF rollout in letters to Liberals, NDP
The Ontario Trucking Association is stressing that dump truck operators have had plenty of time to comply with Safe, Productive and Infrastructure-Friendly (SPIF) regulations – and it’s taken the message to members of the province’s two opposition parties.
The NDP and Liberals have both shown support for the Don’t Dump on Us campaign launched by those in the industry who oppose the latest update to weights and dimensions.
The changes require self-steering axles and load equalization systems to maximize weights.
Grandfathering provisions were in place to allow the vehicles live out their useful lives, the province’s largest trucking association notes, adding the latest provisions that apply to dump trucks were announced 10 years ago.
“Because of how the SPIF grandfathering was approached, which allowed vehicles to reach at least 15 years of age, operators and manufacturers were provided significant time to adjust to the new regime, recoup investment in existing equipment and plan their own transitions,” OTA writes.
Permits are also available to further grandfather trucks or trailers that are not yet 15 years old.
“Our board consists of over 70 companies involved in multiple sectors. Based on the composition of OTA’s membership, our board has a large concentration of representatives who own and operate small to mid-size businesses. As such, our association’s positions reflect the concerns of all sizes of carriers – large, small and everything in between.”
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I have no sympathy for the dump operators, however….will I ever live to see the day where the OTA doesn’t suck and blow at the same time? Is this not the same organization that went crying to the government 10-11 years ago to extend the grandfathering period for lift axles on trailers because their downtrodden members (who had equal prep time) were still financially suffering from the recession? It seemed to be a valid and important argument then, but since very few dump operators have wasted their money on an OTA membership, to hell with them, right? Those post-recession protests were well covered in this magazine at the time, but seem to have been conveniently forgotten. Different rules, depending who you are, as always. If not for all the two-faced rhetoric, this would be a very boring industry.
which political party and transport minister brought in the SPIF rules 10 years ago ?
So Which political party and past minister of transport is against the SPIF rules now in year 2021?
A lot of single dump truck operators are new to Canada or farm as well. Many of these people do not have a lot of available credit. Many of them stay in the homeless shelters. I am currently in a homeless shelter along with other truck drivers including 3 triaxle dump truck drivers. These people often have family to support in another country and a daughter who is a foreign student with very high school costs.
Gee, thanks OTA. What side are you on, truckers that pays for your association or the government?
I could have had 100 years to prepare for this but the reality is , I can’t afford to put an extra 25000.00 on my dump trucks. I already get crap from the customers that think my delivery is too high. This is unbelievable. When you think you can start making a little bit of money, the government comes up with so other bull to take it away from you. And that’s having to go to Electronic logs and give the government a little bit of time, the licence fee will probably double because of non payment because of COVID. After I’ve waited in line at Service Ontario for 2 hours
to renew mine, and that’s every month. This trucking business is getting to be a giant pain.
I have lots to say! The OTA are the very people that have no clue what they are doing unless you fill their pockets just like politicians.
As for spif axles are killing road 10 time faster than lift axles.
The radius of turning when axle is far greater the lights and a lot infrastructure is not set for these axles.
If you lift an axle you don’t drag it down the pavement like a spif. The damage of spif axles now compared to 10 years ago with mostly lift axles is far greater we have more potholes at light where they turn or ramps with greater turns.
So to the liberals that don’t understand trucks or any other politician you should ask the guys that drive them, not the trucking association that takes money from companies and have no true interest on safety or how much it cost for tires or fix the roads.
The OTA pays no heavy use tax just fill pockets full of b.s.