CTA’s EOBR support campaign continues
OTTAWA, Ont. — Canadian motor carriers and professional drivers from across the country have been banding together to voice their support for the mandatory implementation of electronic-on-board recording devices (EOBRs) to monitor Hours-of-Service compliance rules.
Earlier this year, the Canadian Trucking Alliance launched a campaign that provided carriers and drivers and owner/operators the ability to send an email or text-message to federal MPs, urging them to show political leadership on the issue.
The campaign – which proffers how EOBRs represent a considerable improvement over the paper-based log system in terms of improving driver and carrier productivity, competiveness, regulatory compliance with Hours-of-Service standards as well as limiting drivers’ stress level and compliance workload – has triggered an impressive response from the trucking industry, with about 1,500 messages sent to date.
Carriers and drivers from every jurisdiction in Canada sent a message, according to the CTA.
“Our efforts show that there are many carriers and drivers who are clearly in favour of replacing outdated paper logbooks with more efficient and compliant electronic monitoring devices,” said David Bradley, president of the CTA. “While we understand that there is a minority in the industry who may oppose an EOBR mandate, it’s important that decision makers hear from those who have experience with EOBRs in enhancing compliance and making highways safer.
“Companies that are voluntarily using EOBRs overwhelmingly report that their drivers experience noticeable improvements in productivity and lifestyle.”
CTA officials say the message appears to be getting through to the politicians. In a response to one carrier, federal transport minister, Denis Lebel, stated that EOBRs can “improve hours-of-service regulatory compliance by reducing the opportunity for commercial drivers to exceed regulated driving hours or falsify logbooks” and that Transport Canada “supports the development of an EOBR standard that leverages the work that the United States has undertaken on this issue, that is implemented consistently across all jurisdictions, including our provinces and territories, and that is operationally feasible for both industry and government regulators. Ultimately, a harmonized North American standard would be ideal in consideration of the importance of domestic and cross-border trade.”
He says a “technically flexible, performance-based EOBR standard, combined with a suitable phase-in period, would hopefully allow sufficient time for suppliers to offer cost-effective options meeting the needs of carriers and drivers.”
The campaign is still active. To send a message to MPs about EOBRs, follow the instructions found here.
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How absurd to suggest that the majority of drivers are pro EOBR’s.Safety is NOT the priority in this instance. Simply once again the large carriers are attempting to monopolise and control the marketplace.
Speed limiters really only got the Ontario based carriers their ability to operate LCV’s but did nothing to gain them a competitive edge.
This is the next step in trying to further monopolise the industry.
This implication that either drivers’ on paper logs knowingly falsify their logs or are not competent enough to understand the HOS is insulting.
Here I sit waiting for the terminal to give me my load. With eobr I would have to log this as on duty. So by the time I get my load I would not have enough hours left to get to the next terminal. Yes this CTA member company should be carefull of what they wish for. If they still want the freight on time they will have to get a company truck to
Meet me an hour out of town to get the load. But hey, safety first.
I bet none of these supporters realized this will bump up the price of everything we buy now because trucking will cost more. Wages will be the next thing they’ll be crying about because no carrier will pay the rate they need to make a decent living with EOBR’s in their truck.
This is absolutly an issue driven by the desire of medium and large fleets, through the vehicle(no pun intended)of the CTA, to lessen competion. In my small fleet of ten company trucks,with over half of my drivers over sixty years old, they have said that any EOBR mandate means the end of their time here, as most of them are here because they want to be, not that they need to be. As almost always seems to be the case in these types of issues, enforce the existing laws, especially regarding safety and vehicle condition, and let us do the job that we are so capable of doing, in a safe and efficient way. Also, as has been previously mentioned, the significant number of senior drivers that would “hang it up” when faced with an EOBR dictate will have a dramatic effect on the movement of freight, as I believe more of it is moved by the small carriers than is generally thought. This will play into the hands of the big fleets, with rates driven accordingly. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the agenda here, cloaked in the usual sheep’s clothing of the all-encompassing holy grail of “safety”. For what it’s worth, our little fleet has had an excellent safety record for over twenty-five years. Good luck to all on this issue.
no one but a few very disconected politions at the CTA want this,and if the americans do not mandate this how are we going to make this work? We need a plan for all of NA.
This is nothing more than the CTA dictating what they think is best for the driver. As far as I am concerned, the gasous windbags at the CTA & OTA do not give a damn about the average driver, and are driven my the selfish interests of the bigwigs at the big carriers who want to eliminate the smaller carriers. Enough is enough. I for one am sick of people who have little or no experience driving a truck, or the lifestyle associated with it, telling the drivers what is best for us.
As a user of electronic logs I have an opinion..and this is only my own personal views on electronic logs. I have been in the industry all my life, grew up around trucks and love the job as a whole, with a driving record of over 4 million miles without a chargeable accident I believe my opinon should speak for itself. Back in 1987 I sat on the RTAC commity, myself and 2 other fellow truckers tried to organize other fellow truckers against the CVOR and log books. At this time very few took us serious as the majority of the indusrty told us this will never happen. So here we are today with elogs coming at us hard and fast.
Good points about elogs are few and far between, they don’t allow companies to force dispatch the driver when rest is needed, and it saves trees…lol…but with so many paper mills closing maybe using a litte more paper is ok.
Bad points are many, you have a computer telling when you are tired. The other day I had been on duty out of town made my deliveries and drove back to Nipigon, I needed to have a healthy supper, but after pulling into the Husky I noticed my available driving time was disappering even though I was off duty. This was due to the 24 hour period of time allowed to drive and make deliveries and sleep. So I grabed fuel and raced down the road with a sandwitch, not the healthy supper I should have been able to have.
Elogs don’t give you the time to drive to the best resting spot. You are forced to stop in an unsafe enviroment more times then enough. The lack of quailty truck stops in northern Ontario with so many going out of bussiness due to the abuse from some drivers using only free services they provied. Elogs force you to either stop before you are out of hours, or drive over your hours. Driving over gives you a violation, stopping too soon could mean the difference between getting home or not.
In my opinion Elogs will only make the software company a profit, will increase spending by the goverment to enforce Elogs and the highway saftey to decrease.
We have been using paper log books for years. The CTA are liars and are again pushing their own agenda. Drivers DONT want EOBR’s. Damn, this pisses me off.