The Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) is throwing its support behind an Ontario Provincial Police enforcement effort targeting inattentive driving by truck drivers and carriers avoiding roadside enforcement.

“The majority of truck drivers and trucking companies make safety priority one,” said OTA president Stephen Laskowski. “Unfortunately, there are some in our industry that require the attention of the OPP to remind them of their obligation to road safety. Many of today’s modern and safe fleets have distracted and aggressive driver monitoring systems in place. We encourage the OPP to send a clear message to those that fail to adopt proper and safe management practices.”

In January 2018, a safety group made up of the OPP, MTO and OTA will meet for the second time to identify opportunities to reduce visual and cognitive distracted driving among commercial truck drivers as well as exploring new enforcement techniques focusing attention on those carriers who fail to adopt a culture of safety in their fleet. These working group efforts are part of the five-point action plan on truck safety OTA released in November

OTA also looks foreword to working with the Province of Ontario and Transport Canada to expediate the introduction of mandatory electronic logging devices(ELDS) into the trucking sector. ELDs will significantly reduce driver fatigue among commercial drivers, which will help reduce cognitive distracted driving occurrences in the trucking industry.