Anti-fatigue system for truckers is now required

Earlier, we slept as long as we thought we should sleep well and left. We can save up to 24 hours a week and sometimes moreBenoit Therrien, president of the specialized information site Truck Stop Quebec, says in an interview. There, as per the prescribed terms, we will do the required hours.

As of April 30, the Quebec government will require truckers carrying cargo more than 160 kilometers from their home port to have an electronic recording device on their vehicle or ECD. This electronic tablet, which replaces the paper log book, automatically calculates their hours of work, driving and rest.

Quebec has repeatedly postponed its entry into force. The end should be done at the beginning of the month before being postponed for administrative reasons.

Under Quebec law, truck drivers cannot drive more than 13 hours a day. They need at least 8 hours of continuous rest before hitting the road.

with ECD On board, if the driver exceeds the limit, he immediately receives a warning message that calls him to stop. However, exceptions are made if the trucker is stuck in traffic or in a snowstorm.

No one can cheat anymore, says Patrick Gagnon, vice president of Trans-West Road Management, a transportation company in Montreal, with a smile in his voice. The latter equipped its trucks with a ECD Already five years ago.

The number of criminals across Quebec has been on the rise in recent years. According to data from the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), in 2017, authorities issued 2,620 tickets to truckers who exceeded legal working hours. This is twice as much as in 2007.

According to Transport Canada, provincial and territorial governments reported an average of 9,400 hours of service violations per year by drivers between 2010 and 2015.

More security

By adopting these new regulations, Quebec is finally following in the footsteps of most Canadian provinces, including Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick, where the instrument has been mandatory since 1^R January. It will be available in British Columbia on the 1st^R August.

Fact to note: Truckers who regularly cross the US border already comply ECD It is mandatory for them from 2019 onwards. In the US, electronic logbooks have been made mandatory since 2017.

With this device, Quebec hopes to reduce the risk of fatigue at the wheel and improve safety on the road. Specifically, the number of fatal accidents involving heavy trucks increased by 6.9% between 2016 and 2021. SAAQ. As for serious accidents, they rose by 6.3%.

In fact, switching to electronic recording devices was one of the Saskatchewan coroner’s recommendations after the 2018 accident involving the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team. 16 people died when a bus belonging to this team collided with a transport truck.

Such regulation has long been awaited by the Quebec Trucking Association, its president and general manager Marc Cadieux underscores. It’s important that our employees have the tools to protect themselves, and this is one.He argues.

” It is a protection for the worker, the driver and the truck and it is also a protection against any unfair competition. »

Traffic controllers SAAQ shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the mandatory use of a ECD In heavy trucks involved.

Transport Canada has approved 55 electronic recording devices. Although these devices do not represent a technological innovation, not all companies have yet chosen to use them.

With information by Gabrielle Proulx