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The future of the trucking industry is going high tech – with improved safety the main goal.
Big rigs in America have what are known as electronic logging devices (ELDs) that record how long the truck has been in operation and how far the driver has gone.
Regulations are already in place to bring ELDs to the Canadian trucking industry but Dave Earle, president of the BC Trucking Association, said the government wants to make sure it is done properly.
Currently, Canadian truckers log their hours and mileage manually with pen and paper, and those in the industry admit a small percentage of drivers fudge the information so they can make more money.
“The idea is because it is electronic and tamper proof, it's really going to improve compliance for hours of service,” said Earle. “The U.S. went there in April of last year and two-thirds of the fleet in Canada, certainly in B.C., are already using them because it helps them manage a whole bunch of variables in their business.”
Earle said the U.S. found that without a third party certification protocol manufacturers were producing ELDs that can be manipulated.
Provincial regulators decided to slow down the installation of ELDs until they all had a third party verification standard and were tamper proof.
“So that has delayed the process a little bit because when we bring it in we want to make sure it is doing what we want it to do,” said Earle, adding it is anticipated all rigs will have the tamper-proof ELDs by 2020.
But that is just the tip of the electronic iceberg for truckers as technology will play an even greater role in the coming years.
Technology is being installed that will act as a 'blackbox' for big rigs, but are not yet part of the regulatory requirements.
Earle said rigs in Canada are being equipped with GPS-enabled dash cams.
The system records information like the exact location of the truck, how fast is it going and other vital information.
It also provides a video of any mishap that may occur.
“You will know exactly what is happening at the moment of impact,” he said.
Earle pointed out had such a system been installed on the rig involved in the Humboldt tragedy last year, officials would have digital account of what happened.
