Marc's Safety Corner BigRoad

The benefits of using the FMCSA's Safety Measurement System (SMS) to improve your fleet's safety ranking and DOT profile.

Last week, our Head of Safety, Compliance and Regulatory Affairs, Marc Moncion, explained the functionality of the CSA Safety Measurement System. We had a great turn-out and attendees were able to ask Marc any questions they had about the industry. The recording of the webinar and Marc's answers are shared below! 

  Need and ELD solution? Looking for fleet management solutions? Not sure about what you need?  BigRoad, A Fleet Complete company can cater to whatever your needs may be.  Book a consultation today.  

An avid transportation industry expert and supporter, Marc is genuinely interested in learning how ever-growing cities and increasing traffic, new technologies and fleet safety practices and policies are affecting truck drivers today. Having decades of experience in truck driving, serving as a DOT/MTO inspector, as well as heading fleet safety departments, Marc has faced these changes first hand throughout his career.

Recently, Marc joined one of the most tenured drivers at APPS Transport (one of the leading Toronto-based transportation companies) for a ride along. Bob Zabek has been with APPS for 20+ years and is not planning to retire any time soon. He has seen the industry go through drastic changes in terms of stricter rules, digitization and increasing traffic.

Need and ELD solution? Looking for fleet management solutions? Not sure about what you need?  BigRoad, A Fleet Complete company can cater to whatever your needs may be. Book a consultation today. 

Marc and Bob spent a day together exchanging industry knowledge, insights and opinions on ‘A Day in the Life of a Trucker’ to Kingston, Ontario and back. They discussed how increasing traffic on the highways and aggressive driving habits from smaller vehicles are putting additional strain on truck drivers to stay safe while on the road.

Have you ever noticed how many light duty trucks are driving on highways with unsecured ladders and other equipment in their pick-ups? In the business of long-hauling goods and cargo, Bob finds himself under a lot of scrutiny and regulations from the authorities to properly secure his loads. Do the same rules apply to non-commercial drivers?

In our first episode of Marc's Ride-A-Long Series, Bob shares how he had to change his driving performance to the ever-changing regulations, to using the ELD to log his hours, to how other drivers on the roads are creating dangerous situations for truck drivers and more. Watch it below!

On-duty time means the period that begins when a driver begins work or is required by the motor carrier to be available to work. The main exception is where a driver is waiting to be assigned to work. On-duty time will also end when the driver stops work, or is relieved of responsibility by the motor carrier. 

Dear Marc,

Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) hosted industry experts from Fleet Complete, Drivewyze and Isaac Instruments to discuss must-have technologies, ELDs and government regulations at the Leadership Conference and AGM on April 27, 2019 in Kananaskis, Alta. 

How does "Unassigned Driving" work under AOBRD vs ELD?

A motor carrier was in the midst of being audited by DOT and were asked to surrender an “Unassigned Driving Report” for the previous 6 months, even though they were grandfathered under the AOBRD requirements prior to the ELD launch in December 2017.

With enforcement of the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate starting on December 18, 2017, there has been confusion at between drivers and inspectors as to whether a device is an ELD or a grandfathered automatic onboard recording device (AOBRDs).

There have also been observations regarding complaints with some vendor support, and more drivers running out of hours due to delays. Read the blog to learn about enforcement so far, and some tips to avoid violations:

Dear Marc,

After reading the blog "Are drivers required to show when they stop for fuel on their BigRoad driver logs?"  I am wondering about flagging every on/off duty switch. If the driver is loading, unloading or resting do we need to mark that in the notes section? Do we need to note 30 minute breaks or can we just note that we were off duty 30 minutes?

Question submitted from one of our readers, Kevin B. Thanks Kevin!  

Our resident compliance expert, Marc Moncion, took some time to answer our customers' pressing compliance-related questions. Read this blog post to learn what his answers are!