TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS FOR THIS WEEK
TRUCKER RADIO NEWS OCTOBER 7, 2021
- If you are going to PEI, get ready for long cue tip up your nose. Truckers can cross the US/Canadian border but if you are delivering to or from PEI, you may want to reconsider, if you can. The new restrictions imposed on truck drivers traveling to Prince Edward Island will slow down the supply chain, the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA) warned.
Jean-Marc Picard, executive director, APTA, said the provincial government is adding an extra layer of things to do for truckers who sometimes travel through three provinces in a day.
Non-resident truckers must get tested on entry regardless of vaccination status, APTA told its members in a bulletin. If they are not fully vaccinated, they are required to work isolate when in P.E.I. and if fully vaccinated, they are not required to isolate.
Drivers who reside on the island are also required to get tested upon entry. If an island driver makes two or more trips off island in a week, they only need to get tested once every five days.
The APTA says drivers who make regular trips to P.E.I. - at least twice weekly, for example - will only be required to be tested every five days.
Those who don't make regular trips to the island will be asked to be tested upon entry. If they have an approval letter from Justice and Public Safety, they will be directed to follow the guidance in that letter, for example, requirement to work isolate.
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- On Tuesday 5th, the Government of Canada made an announcement providing further details on its policy to require all federal public service employees and some federally regulated workplaces to be fully vaccinated and confirmed that the federally regulated trucking sector remains exempt from this requirement.
This week's announcement also confirms the timeframes for meeting compliance with the vaccination policy by the end of October and provides further details regarding who will be covered by the mandate, and what the roles and responsibilities of employers and operators will be moving forward.
The Government of Canada continues to urge all employers to increase vaccinations within their workforce to help protect all Canadians.
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- Canadian enforcement officers pulled over 1,828 commercial drivers during Operation Safe Driver Week from July 11-17, issuing 136 warnings and 593 citations in the process.
Speed-related offences were behind 289 of Canada's commercial vehicle citations, followed by failing to wear a seat belt (160), and texting or using a handheld phone (83). Failing to wear a seat belt triggered 38 warnings, followed by speed-related offences (35 warnings), and operating while ill or fatigued (22 warnings).
But the focus wasn't on commercial drivers alone.
Officers also pulled over 7,759 passenger vehicles on this side of the border, issuing 139 warnings and 3,427 citations.
Collectively, law enforcement officers in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. stopped 46,058 passenger and commercial vehicles.
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- This decision in California could spread across the country. Despite published reports Tuesday, the California Trucking Association's case against California's restrictive AB 5 independent contractor law is still pending with the U.S. Supreme Court.
An article published Tuesday by news agency Reuters claimed that SCOTUS had denied CTA's petition for the Supreme Court to hear its case, which challenges the California law that codified the ABC test for determining independent contractor status, which would effectively ban the leased owner-operator model in the state. Watch this story carefully.
