Canada’s leading ELD suppliers are urging carriers who have not yet prepared for the June 2021 coming-into-force date that the time is now.
That was the central message during an online town hall presentation by a host of ELD vendors who are part of the Canadian Trucking Alliance’s Team Canada Elite.
Truck News reports:
“The sooner you act and get involved in the process and start installing technology, the smoother the transition will be,” said Geoff Wood, CTA’s senior vice-president – policy.
Suppliers participating in the webinar stressed the value of introducing (third-party certified) ELDs as early as possible, to answer any questions before the regulations are fully enforced.
“We’re able to see what happened in the past and see what happened with the U.S. mandate and learn from that experience,” said Anthony Mainville of Attrix, referring to the flood of fleets that waited until the last minute.
He asked fleets to imagine how nervous drivers will be when facing their first roadside inspection with an ELD. Some early experience will help ease such fears.
Suppliers also stressed that equipment can be updated after it’s on the road, once certification is secured.
“Those updates will be done over the air,” said Fred Fakkema, vice-president – safety and compliance with Zonar. “It doesn’t really impact your operation.”
New drivers also need to be properly configured with the ELD, Mainville said, noting that details like licence numbers or vehicle information are often missing when fleets familiarize themselves with the equipment. “Most vendors will even have the capacity to do simulations to make sure that all the information is properly entered.”
“It’s not only training for the drivers, but it’s also training for the support staff that are working with the drivers,” Fakkema said.
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Anyone who tries to reach a U.S. vendor that doesn’t even answer the phone should question whether the supplier is going to invest around $50,000 to certify a device, Ahart added.
“The vendor has to have enough business in Canada to even justify that amount of money.”