TORONTO, ON – The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has unveiled the criteria to develop a new Level 8 electronic inspection criteria – and the Canadian Trucking Alliance says this could open the door to tracking all inspections, whether equipment passes or fails.

The North American Standard Level 8 Electronic Inspection is conducted electronically or wirelessly while a vehicle is in motion, without interacting with an enforcement officer. 

According to CVSA, the exchanged data must include a descriptive location including GPS coordinates, electronically validate who is operating the vehicle, the appropriate driver’s licence class and endorsement, licence status, valid Medical Examiner’s Certificate and Skill Performance Evaluation Certificate, the driver’s Record of Duty status, Hours Of Service compliance, a USDOT or (Canada) National Safety Code Number, power unit registration, operating authority, Unified Carrier Registration (UCR) compliance, and federal Out of Service orders.

Out of Service rates that are currently reported often don’t reflect equipment that passes through a roadside inspection station with a clean bill of health, or is allowed to pass by altogether because of a scale bypass program like Alberta’s Partners in Compliance.

It’s important to accurately reflect the scope of enforcement activities, says Geoff Wood, the alliance’s vice president – operations and safety. “We believe the Level 8 initiative is the key to resolving this longstanding issue.”