CTA calls for more cooperation on truck standards

WASHINGTON — In an audience with the Transportation Law Institute, the Canadian Trucking Alliance insisted cooperation between Canada and the U.S. was a key to moving the industry forward.

In an address to the 42nd annual Transportation Law Institute meeting in Washington, D.C., the CEO of the CTA David Bradley said that in addition to creating a better balance between security and trade facilitation at the Canada-U.S. border, there are a number of opportunities for the two countries to work together.

The governments, in cooperation with the trucking industry, should work on policies and regulations to improve competition and competitiveness, make the highways safer and reduce the industry’s environmental footprint.

According to Bradley, "while no country should be asked to give up its sovereignty, given the extraordinary level of economic and social integration that exists between Canada and the United States, you would think this (working more closely together) would be self-evident."

He said that he believes the trucking industry in both countries "is in the midst of a cultural change where carriers want competition to be based on service and price, where price includes the true cost of compliance for all."

He went on to say that new technologies, or broader use of existing technology such as speed limiters, EOBRs and electronic stability control are growing in acceptance and should be key elements of North American safety standards.

"Governments should also be working with industry to accelerate the penetration of SmartWay vehicles and equipment and its Canadian counterpart CTA’s enviroTruck initiative ,” Bradley says. “The industry’s economic goals are more aligned with the effort to combat global warming than ever before."

Bradley also pointed out that as the debate over heavier trucks and an expansion of the LCV network in the U.S. heats up, "policy-makers need only look north to see how Canada has benefited from a more productive truck weights and dimensions regime and how we are now approaching national coverage for LCVs."
 


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