MTO

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 7: The Fuel Tank

We’re less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today’s Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection.

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 6: Wheel Ends

We’re less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today’s Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection. In this episode we look at wheel ends.

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 5: The Front of the Truck

We’re less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today’s Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection. In this episode we look at the front of the truck.

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 4: First Things First

We’re less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today’s Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection.

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 3: The Paperwork

We’re less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today’s Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection.

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 2: Minor vs. major defects

We're less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today's Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection.  In this episode we look at minor versus major defects.

Video: CVSA Inspections Episode 1: An Overview

We're less than a month away from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) International Roadcheck sceduled for June 5-7 2018. With that in mind we take a look back at this 2017 video series with Today's Trucking editor John G. Smith and Samantha Sarasin, Ontario Ministry of Transportation enforcement officer and provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) instructor who explain every step in a CVSA inspection and answer a key question: What does a CVSA decal actually tell inspectors?

Blitz results revealed by CVSA

GREENBELT, MD - Inspectors issued 59,193 warnings and citations in Canada and the U.S. during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's (CVSA's) Operation Safe Driver Week, which ran from October 15 to 21. And passenger vehicle drivers were more likely than their commercial counterparts to be caught speeding. State and local moving violations represented 84.2% of the 38,878 warnings and citations for commercial vehicle drivers, with speeding (7.4%), failing to use a seat belt (2.6%), failing to obey a traffic control device (2.5%), and using a handheld phone (0.8%) rounding out the top five. Among passenger vehicle drivers, the 20,315 citations and warnings involved speeding (43.5%), state and local moving violations (36.2%), failing to use a seat belt (9.4%), failing to obey a traffic control device (2.3%), and improper lane changes (1.5%). Less than 1% of the warnings and citations were for following too closely.

OPP week-long blitz puts officers in trucks

TORONTO, ON - The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are conducting a blitz this week on the province's highways, paying special attention to heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and they're doing it from a new angle. OPP Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair said the group is using the two OPP Class 8 tractors - normally reserved for hauling police vehicles around Ontario - during the week to give them a better view of distracted drivers in the Greater Toronto Area. "Starting with this initiative, we are enhancing our observational investigative abilities on the road. Officers will now be conducting patrols in transport trucks," said Blair. "By giving our officers an enhanced vantage point they will be better positioned to detect transport truck drivers that are distracted, or engaging in other dangerous behaviors behind the wheel." Officers across the province, along with aerial patrols, will also be participating in the blitz the OPP is calling Operation Safe Trucking. Blair said the Highway Safety Division of the OPP has responded to more than 6,200 collisions involving commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) on provincially patrolled roads since the beginning of 2017. Of those 72 were fatal, causing the deaths of 87 people. More than 1,000 others involved personal injury. More than 5,000 of the crashes involved property damage. Blair says collisions have real social and economic impacts even for those not involved in them directly, with everything from the loss of life, to medical treatment costs, loss of productivity, and the disruption in the movement of goods and people due to highway backups costing business and individuals. "The vast majority of [collisions] are attributed to poor driving behaviors, and they are completely preventable," said Blair.

Ontario announces tools for winter roads

TORONTO, ON - The Ontario government is offering support to drivers trying to navigate winter roads this year. Today Ontario Minister of Transportation Steven Del Duca announced expansions to two digital tools for drivers to help them plan safe routes through snowy conditions. The website Track My Plow now covers all 20 of the province's winter maintenance contract areas, allowing drivers to see the location of plows on highways during and after a storm, and use roadways that have been cleared.

New auto carrier regs come to Ontario

TORONTO, ON - The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) have announced a "made-in-Canada" approach to harmonizing regulations for Stinger-Steer auto carriers. Earlier this week MTO launched the Extended Stinger-Steer Auto Carrier (ESSAC) Special Vehicle Configuration Permit Program. Carriers and other industry groups have been asking for an overhaul to the Ontario regulations surrounding the auto carriers since the passage of the FAST act in the U.S. in 2015 changed regulations to things like length, and front and rear load overhang limits south of the border.

OTA, officials to meet on road safety

TORONTO, ON - With several truck collisions this month shutting down major Ontario highways for hours at a time, the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), and well as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), are working together to create safer roads, and clear them faster after a crash. The groups announced the formation of two committees this week to address highway clearance procedures and strategic truck safety enforcement. OTA President Stephen Laskowski said by working together the groups could develop joint goals and strategies on these issues and more effectively execute them to improve highway safety.

Ontario driver training schools warned

TORONTO, ON - Ontario's private career colleges have received a stern warning from the ministry that oversees them, after complaints that some schools are trying to bypass newly introduced mandatory training for commercial drivers. The Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT) program was introduced by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation on July 1, and sets a minimum of 103.5 hours of training for anyone looking to earn a Class A licence. It's the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce such a standard. In a memo obtained by Today's Trucking, the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development says it has heard some schools may not be complying with approved training programs and conditions. The issue includes programs designed to upgrade BZ or DZ licence holders to AZ licences, or simple hourly lessons.