TORONTO — More significant changes to Ontario’s Commercial Vehicle Operator Registration system kick in today, including a new “proactive” intervention model which replaces the current “rehabilitative” system.

Previously, all fleets hauling in Ontario — regardless of where the carrier’s vehicles were registered — were required to register with the Ministry of Ontario and obtain a CVOR certificate used to monitor the on-road safety performance such as collisions, inspections and facility audits of a fleet, as well as compliance with highway safety regulations.

On Jan. 1, however, as part of amendments to the federal Motor Vehicle Transport Act (MVTA), all provinces are responsible for their own carriers and have ceased from safety rating and issuing safety fitness certificates to extra-provincial trucks base-plated in other Canadian jurisdictions. Monitoring is done through event data collected by all Canadian jurisdictions sent to the carrier’s home base through the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) data exchange system.

The new CVOR revises point values for convictions to be
more consistent with values assigned in other provinces.

Therefore, Ontario, which will continue to monitor USA-plated carriers for exposure in that province, now recognizes safety fitness certificates and safety ratings issued by other Canadian jurisdictions.

The MTO will announce today that it has modernized its CVOR, carrier safety rating, and facility audit programs. A new “proactive and predictive” intervention model — which the ministry says was created by analyzing events that occurred over the past five years and comparing them with future collisions — has taken effect.

For one thing, the new CVOR model will replace “adjusted fleet size” with “kilometric travel in Canada” as the basis for assessing each carrier’s relative exposure to on-highway risk.

All levels of CVSA inspections will be used in determining the carrier’s violation rate and safety rating. Ontario, confirms the ministry, will continue to point only those collisions that indicate impropriety (at fault) on the part of the carrier and/or driver.

Furthermore, “point values assessed for convictions have been revised to align better with the relative likelihood of those types of offences that lead to future collisions and also to be more consistent with those point values assigned by other Canadian jurisdictions.”

Carrier and CVOR Drivers abstracts will also have a new look that incorporates all the new information.

Enforcement of the new system will be phased in over a two-year period, says MTO. The old rules for events before April 2 will continue to apply.

The two sets of violation rates will then “blended” in. Eventually, after two years, the entire violation rate will be based on the new set of rules.