HomeMy WebLinkAboutCAO-06-053 - Commercial Vehicle Operations Registration & Highway Traffic Act Legislative Changes1
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REPORT
Report To: Finance & Corporate Services Committee
Date of Meeting: September 5, 2006
Submitted By: Doug Paterson, Director, Human Resources
Prepared By: Jerry Rade, Equipment & Vehicle Training Coordinator
Wards} Involved: n/a
Date of Report: August 24, 2006
Report No.: CAO-06-053
Subject: COMMERCIAL VEHICLE OPERATOR'S REGISTRATION
AND HIGHWAYTRAFFIC ACT LEGISLATIVE CHANGES
RECOMMENDATION:
For information purposes only.
BACKGROUND:
The City of Kitchener's fleet of 180 commercial trucks and 841 drivers is subject to the Highway
Traffic Act and other associated regulations, as governed by Ontario's Ministry of Transportation
(MTO). To operate the City's fleet, an MTO issued Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration
Certificate (CVOR) is required. The Corporation's CVOR certificate is subject to penalties for
non-compliance, for example: at-fault collision, operating unsafe equipment and so on. Once a
demerit point threshold is reached, penalties, even to the withdrawal of the CVOR certificate,
are possible.
MTO Regulation 4/93, Hours of Work, addressing driver fatigue, came into effect in the mid
1980s. It restricts the number of hours a commercial vehicle driver may work. It is similar to the
Federal Hours of Service regulation, which governs inter-provincial operation of commercial
vehicles. Following a review and revision of the Federal regulation, as suggested by the
Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), an amendment to the Federal
legislation is coming into effect in January 2007. MTO's goal is to enact concurrent, identical
provincial regulation.
REPORT:
Reduction in Hours of Work
The new legislation will address the permitted number of on-duty hours and required number of
off-duty hours. Present regulations allow 15 consecutive on-duty hours, with eight consecutive
off-duty hours. The new regulation restricts on-duty time to 14 consecutive hours and increases
the off-duty hours to ten. The change will affect, for example, the City's existing snow removal
schedules.
Loss of Flexibility on Emergency Designations
Under existing regulations, there is an emergency provision for exceeding permitted hours of
work to be used only in rare circumstances; for example, in the event of a broken gas line. The
proposed federal legislation restricts the exemption to emergencies declared under the
Emergencies Act, which in Ontario is the Emergency Measures Act, declared by the Premiere of
Ontario or Head of Council.
MTO has suggested that the provincial legislation may differ. The example provided described a
gas line break: The shutting off of the gas line would constitute an emergency; the further repair
of the break would not be considered an emergency, unless it supplied a hospital or similar
public facility. Winter snow and ice control operations would not be considered an emergency.
Record Keeping
Current regulations require employees driving commercial vehicles to maintain log books
tracking the number of hours in each activity: off-duty, on-duty driving, on-duty not driving, and
in the sleeper berth, as applicable. Employee log books are not required at the City of Kitchener,
as we meet the criteria for exemption; however, the Corporation is required to maintain the
records of employee off-duty and on-duty hours. This information is readily available through
payroll records.
To maintain our exemption under the new legislation, however, the City will be responsible for
keeping additional records tracking the times at which each applicable employee reports for
work, drives or performs other duties throughout the day, and the total time at each activity.
Again, MTO has suggested that provincial legislation may differ. In this case, MTO may allow an
abbreviated record keeping process within this exemption. Nonetheless, a new recording
process is needed, resulting in an additional administrative burden and reducing employees'
available hours of work.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The change in legislation will result in additional costs to the operating department. Although the
financial impact has not been assessed, it would be reasonable for a municipality the size of
Kitchener to expect the final cost to be measured in the $100,OOOs. If funds are not available to
accommodate the increased restrictions, a forced reduction of service levels will result.
CONCLUSION
Reduced working hours and increased off-duty time undoubtedly reduces driver fatigue and
results in improved road safety. Compliance with the legislation is unquestionable; however,
should MTO succeed in passing this legislation concurrent with the federal equivalent, it will
leave very little time for the Corporation to implement the necessary changes. Again, this may
result in a forced reduction in service levels.
Respectfully submitted,
Jerry Rade, Equipment and Vehicle Training Coordinator