OTTAWA, Ont. — The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is urging the National Vehicle Weights and Dimensions Task Force to amend the national Memorandum of Understanding on truck configurations in the interest of both comfort and environmentalism.

The CTA is looking for truck configurations to better accommodate more comfortable sleeper berths within B-train combinations and extend the maximum allowable tractor wheelbase on tractor-semitrailer units to accommodate not only larger sleeper berths, but also add-on devices such as auxiliary power units (APUs) aimed at reducing a truck’s GHG emissions.
 
“The current truck weights and dimensions regulations have and continue to serve the industry well,” says CTA’s chief executive officer, David Bradley. “But like anything else they need to be tweaked in order to modernize them from time to time.”
 
“The changes CTA is proposing with regard to the national standards for B-trains, which are a very productive configuration used in many sectors of the industry across Canada, and tractor wheelbase, which is also an issue for many fleets, are two areas where we feel more flexibility would be desirable in order to ensure those drivers who use sleeper berths have the maximum of comfort and carriers and owner-operators will have more flexibility in determining which fuel economy-GHG reduction options they wish to implement going forward.”

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