Canadian ELD mandate could be in place by spring 2017

by Truck News

TORONTO, Ont. – Transport Canada announced Aug. 3 that it would be proposing to amend the hours of service (HOS) regulations to mandate the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) by federally-regulated motor carriers and commercial vehicle drivers.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) said Transport Canada would launch a consultation process which should occur in early 2017 and be followed by the 60-day comment period and a final rule, including a compliance date that the department said would be one or two years prior to the mandate’s completion, which could be published as soon as spring of 2017.

“The momentum is clearly building towards a mandate,” said the president and CEO of the Alliance, David Bradley. “CTA will actively participate in the consultations.”

The CTA said the government would like to have the Canadian ELD law fall in line with the one established in the US by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which proposes a December 2017 compliance date for ELDs meeting the new US technical specifications and December 2019 for existing automatic onboard recording devices.

A release by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administration of a draft ELD technical standard and the release of Transport Canada’s cost-benefit analysis, which the CTA said is likely to show a strong net benefit for an ELD mandate by roughly a two-to-one ratio, will both be taken into account during a consultation process.

The CTA said an ELD mandate would come as welcome news, as it has been advocating for the regulation for over a decade. The alliance also said Transport Canada minister Marc Garneau assured the CTA that he supported an ELD mandate.

“Now we’re seeing his leadership put into action,” said Bradley, who called upon all the provincial governments “to get onboard and start preparing for the introduction of a mirror mandate at the intra-provincial level.”


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  • When ELDS COME ON BROAD THERE WILL BE 10 THOUSAND DRIVERS RETIRING EARLY THEY WILL NOT PUT UP WITH ELD.THATS WHAT I HEAR ON THE ROAD ALREADY.ELD WILL NOT WORK FOR CITY DEL. DRIVERS ARE ALWAYS RACING AGAINT THE CLOCK AN RUNNING TIRED.

  • Sure is a good thing city drivers are exempted. Any driver who can’t get his job done legally should go do something else. The biggest problem is the culture. You don’t see the corner cutting, pushing safety to the side in aviation. But the only reason the customers in that sector don’t ask the ridiculous is because all airlines play by (mostly) the same rules. Why? the risks both safety and punitive aren’t worth it. The trucking industry needs to catch up.70% of my drivers will be fine, as they are fine now. The other 30% are their own worst enemy, take unnecessary risks and make poor decisions. If ELD’s cull the herd, so be it.

    • I saw a logo in the U.S.. It Said “Our drivers are leaders, Our leader is a driver.” You don’ t have a truck driving licence. Do you?

  • The company I drive for gets around the frequent overages in daily hours by just putting the extra hours on office staff (by creating a dummy log) who have their truck license but don’t drive anymore. What’s to stop this when ELDs come online?

  • TORONTO, Ont. – Transport Canada announced Aug. 3 that it would be proposing to amend the hours of service (HOS) regulations to mandate the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) by federally-regulated motor carriers and commercial vehicle drivers.
    ————————————————-
    Federally- regulated. Does this mean if you stay in one Province there,s no
    mandated??

  • This ELD is coming and I do welcome it but the way every one playing the game it will be a wash and the problem will only grow bigger. What I could see if a Canadian driver go to the State he will have to use one of these ELD and if not he will be fined and hopefully the company he also work for.
    We will see in Canada perhaps with ELD in truck more team driving like four temporary workers with same name driving in turn.

  • @meslippery You are correct, as of right now the proposal would just apply to extraprovincial motor carriers. However, as David Bradley states near the end of the article the provincial governments need to get on board in support of an interprovincial ELD Mandate. You can expect that when the Canadian ELD Mandate is published it will apply to both intraprovincial and extraprovincial carriers. For more information about the U.S. ELD Mandate refer to our website https://transreport.com/news

  • ELD will not change the industry very much. Carriers will still under cut, cheat the rules and out bid each other. I don’t condone these practices but it will still go on. The truck doesn’t come to a stop at 14 hrs drivers can still violate the rules, it just makes it easier for enforcement so let’s not kid each other shippers will still demand unrealistic appointment times. Mr Bradley needs to get out of the board room and see how this industry really operates. When ELD finely come into play we all aren’t going to meet Oz or the yellow brick road as some political types might have you believe

  • Were are we all going to park when are hours are up the truck stops are full by 7 each night .O yea pre plan ..LOL ..

  • They are fine to use, been using one for a few years and it cuts down on paper work and mistakes we all make from time to time. If your dispatcher does not give you enough time to get to a destination then perhaps say something and stop complaining about safety.

  • I run legal; I run only in my home province. I’ve have run ELD systems in the past and if I’m forced to operate them again I will take my 30 odd years of experience and RETIRE.

    • Elogs are fine anyone running over hours is just ruining it for everyone else by catering to the actual criminals. Only problem I have running them right now is dispatch does turn around and say oh good you have hours left it says so on the computer so we are going to send you back out again.

  • They should regulate drivers pay rate too then. Sorry 60-70 a year is shit pay for someone who spends over half thier life away from home.

  • Elog induced haste is going to kill a lot of people. Drivers are driving against a stop watch very much the same way race car drivers drive in their time trials. Take the water hauler in the oil patch. He is running low on hours and has just enough time to get home. He hears a noise under his truck. Now on a paper log he could make the decision to stop his truck from loading and figure out the problem and still make it home safe and sound with no logbook violation. But he is now on an elog so he doesn’t, have time to to stop his truck from loading and crawls under it with his pump still running. He never crawls out. The safety board blames him and never considers it a elog problem. Many multinational oil companies have spent years trying to reduce haste in the patch because haste kills people. The same could also apply to hyway drivers. The elog is not ready yet. It should absolutely not use a count down timer in its processing. The driver needs to have some ability to make time based decisions for his own safety and the safety of the public. A count down timer is not a decision maker and should only be used on the race track where it belongs. The elog needs refit right now to eliminate haste from the cab of heavy trucks.

  • I CAN PROVE THAT 99.9% companies run illegal and i also run illegal when company want and audit done by mto is just checking record provided by some companies by cd’s and now may b by usb’s or log sheets handed by driver . If i have to do the aduit i would start from picking up the truck from yard and finish all Deliveries and pickup’s in usa and canada and back to yard call shipper’s and reciever’s getting writen from them and from transport company there satelight recording of timming. Let me see then how many companies running legal. Even unions are involved with companies anyone need proof anytime welcome

  • I have been looking at ELDs and the impact they’re going to have on me as an LTL driver which primarily runs the west from Toronto.
    With an ELD I will have few options when it comes time to operate in inclement weather or for that matter,when roads are closed.
    Without raises in pay,drivers will be pushing hard in bad weather,I have seen it already repeatedly across interstate 80 and 90. Safety will cease to exist. They’re will be only drivers willing to take immense risks against weather and fatigue simply because they cannot afford to do otherwise.

    Hopefully. Drivers will see how hard they worked all those years and how little they make for the risks involved and begin to look seriously at unionising the industry.

  • The government just looking for a crisis ,prices in everything will going up,then after a year or two they will be back to paper,but prices stay,and this is the beginning of the houses real state crash in Canada. They don’t care about safety ,they know that accidents incrases because driver will run again the clock don’t matter how fatigued they are.

  • No body has really looked at the big picture here. I like the idea I hate paper, It gets rid of the huracane of crap in the cab, log in and go great.
    I drive a 1975 Dodge truck I make my living with it. It passes every year it works great I keep it in top condition I have 2 mechanic licenses I work in the Aricultural machinery area I also like old trucks I have tried to use a I pad to run my log books with a recommended app to keep every body happy. I gave up trying to make it work could never login said already in use, got no we’re. Went back to paper. Canada is a seasonal country start April and run till the first site of road salt. I loaded a new Canadian made App and there office is 1/2 hour drive from home. Getting ready for the next try! The first thing scrolled through there info to find that a IPhone or I pad is really not compliant to our great Governments Needs. I’m not rich in any way to buy a new truck or though how I will install a Dash type ELD in a 42+year old truck
    I lost my Ag service business in late 90s to the liberals idea for change and don’t plan on going down that road again loosing my trucking and hobby business to them again. I don’t care who’s in power I will do my best to buy Canadian and I will be at the voting polls just as I have been since the 90s.
    Good luck to every body Getter Done!
    Malamuteman speak don’t bark.

  • my opinion, not count hrs ,count kms, because if driver stuck in traffic (counting hrs not kms.) instead of hrs the rule i like kms ,
    if snowing traffic will be slow automatically ,then what driver can do?
    driver can’t drive more then …..kms , not more hrs, make since (kms)
    i would like to change hrs to kms.
    drivers will be happy, if this rule only for safety.

  • Be nice to see the trucks come out from the factory with this technology installed. Even better yet, if there are unmanned autonomous vehicles coming out in the future in the trucking industry, then I will just sleep in the sleeper birth the whole time while the truck drives itself to its destination. lol