BANFF, Alta. (May 2, 2005) — Two years after pulling the plug on its support for Partners In Compliance, the Alberta Motor Transport Association announced it would help the provincial government resurrect the floundering program.

Speaking to a room of AMTA members at their conference in Banff, Alta. this weekend, Roger Clarke, Alberta Transportation’s Executive Director of Vehicle Safety and Carrier Services, confirmed that Alberta Transport Minister Lyle Oberg has given the green light to begin retooling the program in the hope of saving it. In meeting just hours before the announcement, key AMTA officials told Clarke the trucking group would be willing to support the program once again, provided several problems are fixed.

“It’s not that PIC had shut down. We didn’t shut it down, but there hadn’t been any maintenance done for a while,” Clarke said.

“Now we’re open for business again, and we hope the folks at the AMTA realize this still makes good business sense.”

Established as a pilot project in 1995 by Alberta’s transport ministry and the Alberta Trucking Association (the predecessor of the AMTA), PIC was a voluntary program created so that reputable carriers could police themselves. Participating fleets were required to meet, and even exceed, all National Safety Code Standards, hours-of-service compliance rates, and several driver training standards in exchange for what was supposed to be relaxed scale enforcement, lower registration fees, and notoriety among the shipper community.

While the standards for PIC membership were extremely tough — no more than one reportable accident per million miles in city areas, and 0.3 accidents per million miles in non-urban areas, not to mention an onerous and complicated administration — most carriers saw little benefit.

Despite attracting 28 carriers at its peak, the program didn’t market itself to enough fleets; there was little support for carriers to improve or maintain standards; and no other jurisdictions in Canada joined, nulling the program outside of Alberta. Also, it started to become apparent that PIC plates weren’t resulting in additional business. In fact, some carriers are convinced that the plates actually made them targets for enforcement outside of Alberta.

Still, Clarke insists there’s much in PIC that’s worth saving. He reports that during the program’s run, TDG document errors among members dropped to 3.6 percent while the industry average hovers around 18 percent; HOS non-compliance was 1.9 percent; collisions fell dramatically; and CVSA out-of-service rates dipped to an all-time low.

Now it’s up to the government and interested AMTA carriers to fix PIC. Already, the parties are working on several proposals, including, among other things: increasing funding; simplified reporting; expanding criteria to occupational health and safety; making good on carrier benefits like full inspection bypasses; stronger administrative support and governance; and access to comparative data.

“I think essentially, this will be a new program with all the best of the former,” Clarke said.