Bruce Outridge is a trucking and transportation industry supporter and expert. He runs The Lead Pedal Podcast for Truck Drivers where he talks all things trucking helping drivers, fleet managers and owners improve their business and careers. Bruce attends events and holds Interviews with industry professionals and truck drivers discussing topics of interest publishing the podcast episodes every Tuesday and Thursday with bonus material on other days. You can learn more about the host and show on their website and make sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform. www.theleadpedalpodcast.com
While at the ExpoCAM 2019 event held at Place Bonaventure in Montreal, Quebec, Bruce met with a number of people at the show, one of them being Marc Moncion. At an interview with Marc Moncion, Bruce briefly touched on the top-of-mind topic in the trucking industry today – the ELD mandate in Canada.
Below is the transcript of the interview with Marc Moncion at ExpoCam 2019.
Bruce Outridge: I’m here with Marc Moncion. Marc, you’re with Fleet Complete, you’re working with the ELDs and you’re partnered with TELUS. What are you doing here at the ExpoCAM?
Marc Moncion: I’m here from a regulatory perspective. I’m trying to demystify some of the questions that are being asked about ELD. How the similarities and differences are with the US regulation and what’s proposed in Canada. I’ve been fielding a lot of questions on that.
Bruce Outridge: Can you give us one difference that’s really a striking point?
Marc Moncion: In the United States, the ELD vendors are allowed to self-certify their devices. Essentially, they just register with the FMCSA. The downside is that any vendor can post on there that they are certified. What happens to the motor carrier is that if they don’t have the output file to display to the DOT inspector at roadside, they’ll be placed out of service and cited. Then they’ll be given 30 days to get a properly certified device, which could be problematic for a carrier that has a hundred vehicles on the road at all different locations, retraining the drivers and getting them comfortable with new devices. So that can be problematic.
Bruce Outridge: When they were bringing [the devices] into the U.S. there was a giant backlash from the industry. More so, the drivers were not using or did not want to use them. Are you hearing that same concern here from the Canadian drivers?
Marc Moncion: No, not so much with that because I think the pain points have already taken place. A lot of the motor carriers that are domiciled in Canada are also transporting goods to the U.S. so they have to comply with the ELD mandate. What’s going to be complicated for Canadian carriers is because the mandate in Canada and the grandfathering clauses that are proposed for Canada are not going to mirror those dates in the U.S., the Canadian carriers could be compliant with the AOBRD, then require ELD by December 16, 2019, and then they have the grandfathering provision in Canada, so fleets are going to end up with a mixed fleet, which could be problematic.
Bruce Outridge: I see someone showing the inspector the wrong material or data and causing more problems.
Marc Moncion: Yes, I’m an ex DOT/MTO officer so I’m old-school and was used to paper, so inspectors now have to look at 200-300 different kinds of devices. They have to get up to speed what’s AOBRD, what’s an ELD. So there’s been some confusion. Here in Canada, I’m on the federal committee and I’ve committed to work with the enforcement community to try and demystify what this is all about.
Bruce Outridge: The enforcement community are usually either ex-truck drivers or ex-police officers. Are they having the same problem with technology as we have with drivers who are 55 and over trying to get them up to speed?
Marc Moncion: You are absolutely correct. They are used to paper and they’ll basically say “I don’t want to see this device. Just show me the paper”, but some are sophisticated. Same thing with drivers. They are used to technology. They are used to cell phones, they are used to tablets. It’s a seamless transition. It’s like anything else, there will be some hiccups but hopefully training we’ll be able to bridge that.
Bruce Outridge: I hope so as well!
