ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Stability control or ‘black boxes’ for Quebec TDG haulers

QUEBEC CITY, (June 13, 2005) — Quebec tanker trucks hauling dangerous goods and made after August 2006 will have to be equipped with either electronic stability control or an onboard recorder system, according to legislation recently revised by the Québec Ministry of Transport.

Also, as of June 23 of 2005, all TDG tankers in Quebec must have a system or device governing the maximum speed limit to 100 km/h. Trucks assembled before August 15, 2006, will be allowed to choose the speed-governing system as a third method for complying with Article 40.

However trucks rolling off the line after that date will need an electronic stability system to “assist the driver when critical maneuvers are attempted,” or have equipped an onboard recorder system (black box) “that records speed versus date/time to monitor driver behavior.”

The rule is an amended version of article 40 the MTQ published in the Quebec Gazette last year. The rule originally required tanker trucks transporting dangerous goods to be equipped with a speed recording system that records data and time of vehicles by August 2004. As Today’s Trucking reported at the time, the Ministry postponed the rule in order to standardized recording systems that will better suit the needs of the industry.

The Quebec Trucking Association was concerned that common GPS systems can already give such information, and that the technology the government was requiring wouldn’t have helped determine how a roll-over occurred.

Quebec’s top truckers admit there’s a place in the industry for anti-roll-over systems, but say that the MTQ’s requirements for the onboard recorders are still not well defined.

“After all meetings we had with the MTQ, they have not been able yet to make a decision on what data the onboard computer should provide,” René Rouillard, who represents the Quebec Trucking Association’s tanker carriers, told Today’s Trucking’s sister French language publication Transport Routier last week. “We agree to implement some kind of computer system, but if we have to invest $500 or a thousand dollars on a system, we want it to be efficient — not only receive a report saying the truck was rolling 105 km/h at 8:00 this morning. What’s the point if we don’t know where the truck is, if it’s going down a hill, if it’s in a curve or whatever.’

Today, if a computer manufacturer calls MTQ and asks what they want the system to do in order to comply with the rule, the MTO cannot tell them,” he continues. “They will ask for a system that can read sudden acceleration and deceleration. But what is critical and what is not?’