OTTAWA — The provinces have approved an amendment to National Safety Code (NSC) Standards 14 and 7, giving officials the ability to adopt "tow-away" criteria for carrier profile points in property damage collisions.

The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) reports in its latest newsletter that the changes mean jurisdictions can either use the tow-away criteria or the existing $1,000-prpoety damage threshold for pointing collisions to their respective carrier profiles.

Motor carriers have long complained that the $1,000 PDO threshold is too low and not a realistic identification of a carrier’s risk. They also contend that the current system is not responsive to inflation and puts truckers at a competitive disadvantage compared to U.S. carriers operating north of the border.

Truckers are happy very minor accidents will no
longer trigger an automatic roadside visit by police.

The U.S., incidentally, already defines PDO crashes as those in which vehicles involved are towed-away due to disabling damage.

CCMTA says several law enforcement agencies have also questioned the requirement to attend low-level PDOs and have "officers serve as insurance adjusters at roadside."

As part of the new initiative, provinces will be asked to work towards adopting the tow-away standard and include the new indicator on respective collision report forms.

Jurisdictions unable to change because of system or legislative issues have agreed to accept the safety rating of those adopting the tow-away definition, says CCMTA, which adds that some operational details regarding data exchange and police officer training are still being ironed out.