The Canadian Trucking Alliance asked politicians on Parliament Hill, who are looking into the safe transportation of goods by road, to consider a universal electronic logging device (ELD) mandate among other things.
Incidents involving trucks transporting dangerous goods (TDG) happen at a rate of about 1.64 per 10,000 shipments and are usually minor in terms of impact. But in the wake of the Lac Megantic incident, politicians have sought industry input from the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), the Manitoba Trucking Association (MTA) and the Teamsters union on the safe transportation of dangerous goods by road.
CTA’s David Bradley commented: "It is highly unlikely an incident of the magnitude of Lac Megantic could occur where trucks are involved. Trucks are not in the business of moving crude oil over long distances to refineries; it's simply uneconomical. And the amount of product shipped by truck in a single shipment is small compared to a train of tank cars."
Even so, the CTA did call for a number of safety measures to be introduced, regardless of whether the trucks are hauling dangerous goods or not, including a universal ELD mandate and a manufacturing standard requiring all new trucks be equipped with roll stability devices.
The CTA also called for greater enforcement of shipper responsibilities under the TDG regulations and certification of individuals providing TDG training.
