Canadian Trucking Alliance says electronic logs coming soon

The president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance says a key safety reform the industry has been asking for could soon be on its way.

Stephen Laskowski told Roy Green this weekend that before spring comes, he hopes to see the federal government announce an end to the use of paper log books that record hours of service.

He said the books are “open to falsification.”

“For a number of years we have been asking for electronic logging devices to come into trucks. In the United States, they are now mandatory. They’ve been that way since December 2017,” Laskowski said.

“That is going to be a big step forward in public safety and in dealing with some of these trucking companies.”

Laskowski appeared on the Roy Green Show on the heels of the weeklong sentencing hearing for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the semi driver responsible for the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.

During that hearing, the court heard that Sidhu committed 70 logging violations that would have kept him off the road had he been pulled over.

The court also heard about Sidhu’s lack of experience, with the 30-year-old only receiving a week of training.

Had he been working at a typical trucking company, according to Laskowski. He added Sidhu would have started working on the dock and trained, moving trucks around the yard for practice — from there, he would have transitioned onto the road.

“That’s how it works for the vast majority in our industry,” he said. “There (is) a percentage in our industry who do not take public safety at its highest priority and will put people behind the wheel before they should ever be put behind the wheel of a commercial motor vehicle.”

That is why the government needs to set entry requirements for businesses and audit them for compliance, he said.

When it comes to the bad apples of the industry, he said consumers also need to do their due diligence.

“Someone is putting a load on that truck,” Laskowski said. “People who use for-hire trucking services have to get to know better who is moving their freight and what is their commitment to safety both for their driver and their vehicles.”