Government of Canada Announces New Measures to Improve Commercial Vehicle Safety

The Minister of Transport, the Honourable Omar Alghabra, announced that, in addition to existing measures, enforcement officers will be able to impose fines on drivers or companies who violate the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations.

Contraventions Regulations

The change was made possible by amending the Contraventions Regulations, which provided new ways to spell out contraventions in the Hours of Service, including the amount of fines.

The Hours of Service Regulations are critical for promoting road safety as they mandate how long commercial drivers can operate their vehicles before they need rest. They also outline logging and reporting requirements for commercial vehicles and fleet operators.

By designating certain provisions of the Commercial Vehicle Drivers Hours of Service Regulations as contraventions, authorities have a new tool that allows for swift enforcement. Previously, offenders of these regulations could be solely subjected to warnings only, or go through the court process, which takes a considerable amount of time and placed a strain on the justice system.

These new enforcement measures build on other actions the Government of Canada has taken to prevent commercial driver fatigue, including mandating electronic logging devices for federally regulated truck and bus operators.