Ontario Minister of Transportation makes three announcements at OTA convention
TORONTO, Ont. – Steven Del Duca, the Ontario Minister of Transportation dropped some major announcements and policy changes today at the OTA’s annual convention.
Del Duca told about 500 attendees of the OTA convention that he supports Electronic Logging Devices.
“Ontario also supports the concept of using Electronic Logging Devices as an effective tool for monitoring hours of service compliance by commercial motor vehicle drivers,” he said. “Ontario believes an effective ELD mandate is one that is adopted nationally, and supports the work already underway by Transport Canada to determine if ELDs should be mandated on extra provincial carriers. MTO will continue to work with Transport Canada, and our provincial-territorial colleagues to create a national solution – if a national solution is not reached, Ontario will look at other options.”
He is the first transportation minister in Canada to show his support for ELDs.
As well, Del Duca said “stability control systems, such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Roll Stability Control (RSC), are an effective tool that can help prevent rollovers and loss of control in certain types of crashes. Transport Canada is responsible for the development of manufacturing and safety standards for new and imported vehicles, including equipment required on trucks and trailers. Ontario supports the concept of mandatory ESC/RSC systems and we believe an effective mandate would be one that is designed and adopted nationally. We strongly encourage Transport Canada to develop a national standard that would require these systems on all newly manufactured large trucks and buses by a specified date.”
Lastly, the minister said that 12-month LCV operations would begin this year.
“We’ve given consideration to extending the operating season for Long Combination Vehicles to year-round operations,” he said. “I am pleased to announce that we will be moving forward with 12-month operations for LCVs for the upcoming 2014/15 winter season. You will hear from ministry officials in the coming days about this will be rolled out.”
President of the OTA, David Bradley, commended Del Duca saying: “These announcements, combined with the Minister Del Duca’s recent endorsement of mandatory entry level training and the introduction of legislation that allows for an extension to the maximum overall B-Train combination length, is the kind of leadership we need.”
The minister followed up saying, “Ontario is a leader in truck safety standards and enforcement … This is in large part due to our long-standing and successful partnership with the Ontario Trucking Association.
“You have been a truly steadfast partner in the sometimes difficult but always important task of keeping our roads safe for all road users – resulting in our shared legacy of having among the safest roads in North America … The number of deadly collisions on our roads involving large trucks has declined – despite growing truck traffic. Current statistics show an over 40 per cent decrease in the number of deaths due to collisions with large trucks. During the same time, the number of large trucks on our roads increased by almost 25 per cent.
“The OTA has a long and proud history of supporting our shared priorities of keeping Ontario’s roads safe – strengthening the economy – making Ontario a clean, green and prosperous place for all us,” he concluded. “As a relatively new Minister of Transportation, I consider myself fortunate to inherit such a strong and thriving relationship with the OTA.”
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I have to agree. My thoughts on reading the all-year round LCV decision was how long before we see a major pile-up on the 401 because a sudden squall blew the rear trailer off and the roads were too slick and the load too long for the driver to recover. Nasty enough at times with the regular 53′ in the winter at times, and those LCVs, as you noted, sometimes have a hard time in the summer staying on their side of the white dashes.
I couldn’t agree more, this is obviously big industry pushing for these changes. Not those who have to pull the LCV down the road. Last winter was a nightmare just trying to pull a AERODYMAMIC 53 down the 401. Those crosswinds and a 53 foot kite were nail biters. If the government starts this nonsense they had better start by changing their snow removal protocols because what they do now just won’t cut it.
Whenever I see a set of pikes it makes me wonder how anyone in their right mind could ever approve them when there are no facilities at all for them. I think the companies must take the family of the driver pulling them hostage. Surely no one is stupid enough to pull them voluntarily.
I think the ministry should also look at the operating perimeters of the LCV s I ‘ve noticed the speeds are increasing and its harder to pass them.
I find it funny that while talking and boasting about being behind safe technology like ELD and ESC’s at the same time believing it will be safe for all motorists to have LCV’s running through the winter makes no sense. It’s clear that big money and corporations are pulling the strings. Let’s hope we don’t have a winter like last year as alot of those LCV drivers have a hard time staying in one lane as it is. Of course I would expect a lobbyist group like the OTA to use this opportunity to kiss a little but instead of being the REAL voice of the industry