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What’s the deal
- Thread starter ToSlow
- Start date
TK4
Well-known member
Used to be Alberta - maybe some kind of licencing, insurance thing ?
Fleets register in different places, sometimes because that's where the bulk of their fleet is, sometimes because there's a cost advantage in one way or another.
It's the same reason you'll see the majority of U-Hauls have Arizona plates.
There's an insane amount of trade between Ontario and Quebec, a lot of people really have no idea, but the plates tell the tale.
Don't get me started on the "conveniently broken" speed limiters. Yet another thing that there's a general lack of enforcement on despite it being a "shooting fish in a barrel" thing if anyone cared. If you see any insanely gross excursions (like, a truck passing you at 120 whie you're doing 115), call *OPP and report it if youw ant. Just don't expect them to give it much attention unless they literally have someone sitting at an onramp with nothing to do.
I thought the speed limiters were required for any truck that is driving in Ontario, regardless of where they are registered.
Unless they are broken.
They should take it a step further and implement an auto self-reporting system.
As soon as the truck goes over the allowed speed limit, a message gets sent to the MTO and you get a nice letter in the mail in a few days. No picture required.
They are.
That doesn't mean that everyone plays by the rules, and again, unless there's actual enforcement, it just emboldens the ones who have decided the rules don't apply to them. And that segment is getting bigger and bigger, but politicians are always too scared to crack down on things.
The technology is there to do as you suggest, 100%, especially since all trucks are e-log now - there's basically a telemetrics computer that talks to the trucks computers all day now, every second that truck is running, and records it all. Thing is most of the data is only looked at by fleet managers, or during an inspection at a scale, and even in the latter, there doesn't seem to be the will to get to the point of laying any tickets for averaging 120 kilometers in a 60 minute time period, for example - not sure that the inspectors can even lay a related charge, they'd have to call the OPP or something I suspect, who knows. Scales have computers they can hookup to the trucks to verify the speed limiter is set as required and CAN lay a charge for that (but probbably not speeding), but that seems to be far and few between as well so far as enforcement. In the 10 years or whatever since the limiter law went into place I've never once been checked.
Different fleets manage things differently as well. Some just turn a blind eye to it all. Others, like mine, are using the new telemetrics to the max to keep drivers on the right side of the fleet insurance policies. Every minute of every day I'm driving now that little black box records, in addition to my e-log data, my speed and any excursions above the limits, along with harsh braking, harsh maneuvers, shock detections, following too close, brake pressure applications, RPM, idle time...and general fuel economy calculations based on a bunch of other variables.
Hardest part now is staying within the fleet limits for speeding, especially in long 80 zones like Highway 7 in many areas. Try doing 82kph for long stretches with nowhere to pass - people lose their bloody minds behind you. But 83kph puts me in the "minor speeding" range and starts to ding my elog safety score as well as my fuel economy figures. 5 over puts me in the moderate category. 10 over for long enough puts you in the major infraction category and after a long enough period in that zone (the number of minutes which remains a mystery), it gets you a visit to the safety department.
Meanwhile, like I said, a lot of other fleets just turn all that stuff off - go nuts, we don't care.
Or.....they could raise the speed limits to appropriate levels and cut all this extra horse$#!+ out. Under no circumstance should the speed limits be lower now than they were nearly 60 years ago, and under no circumstance should the limit be 20km/h below the average speed of traffic.
Yeah, in some areas they really need to reconsider it. 80kph from Toronto to Ottawa on Highway 7 is a bit nuts.
Other areas, well, 100 to 120 maybe, but even then, people will then opt to drive 140 instead going by the old "20 over they ain't going to bother me" routine, and the new 90 zones will be 100.
The problem is that everyone wants the speed limits to go up, but the skill levels of the average drivers out there is going down, in a big way. The two do not go well together.
I solidly disagree with that. If they raised the limit to 180km/h, do you think the average person would start doing 200km/h? Everyone drives at the speed they feel most comfortable at (which is directly proportional to how far ahead they look while driving). I actually think accidents would decrease with higher limits. Cars today are built so well that driving at 100km/h is basically a lullaby. At 100km/h a lot of drivers feel comfortable checking email, social media, watch Netflix, etc instead of paying attention to the road. I highly doubt they would feel comfortable doing that at 150km/h. I remember reading a study that concluded the limit should be set at the 70th percentile of the speed that would be driven if there were no limits. So if the average speed is 130km/h and the SD is let's say 20km/h, then the limit should be about 150km/h (not exact numbers). The point is that the average person shouldn't be breaking the law every time they drive. When that happens, the legislation is wrong.
The cop would have to witness the infraction to lay an HTA charge.
The MTO could set up a system of penalties.. similar to speed/red light cameras... vehicle owner gets a penalty for offences found in the data log.
Also, as most driver activities are time regulated, I assume that the e-logs are certified on timing but they may not be guaranteed accurate on distance/speed/location.
There's exceptions for the speed limiter and ELDs laws.
Any truck older than 199..? doesn't need a limiter.. older than 2000 doesn't require an ELD.. trucks that stay within a certain distance of home base, etc..
Totally disagree. Cars can handle it sure but as PP says the driver are the weak link. Instead of driving and maybe just listening to the radio people are distracted with as you say email, social media and NF.
North America is one of very few places in the world where motor vehicle deaths have gone up instead of down. Big SUVs with big speed do big damage.
Nope, I'd say more...
So easy to step on or twist the throttle...
After most people try braking quickly from 200+, they drive slower in the future. In a cage, it takes a really long time to scrub speed back down to 100.
TK4
Well-known member
Bingo - you don't slide up over the hood any more, you get bug splatted against the grille.
Yes, many would actually. Absolutely.
The percentage of commercial trucks that fall into those categories is infintessimally small anymore - trucks that old are either:
(A) Oldschool brokers driving classic Pete's or KW's who are willing to spend whatever amount of money is necessary to avoid "all that newfandangled stuff". And that amount of money needed to keep a commercial class 8 tractor with potentially 2-3+ million kilometers on the odometer by that age roadworthy is not insignficant.
(B) Bottom feeder companies running junk up and down the roads because, well, bottom feeder. If we had actual heavy enforcement on our roads, most of this stuff would be gone inside 6 months.
Laughs in average Ontario BMW / Mercedes / Tesla / Dodge Ram / Ford Mustang / Range Rover / white Amazon delivery van driver.
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You have to, my understanding is that not all do. As long as 100% of your trips are inside 160km radius, you can avoid elogs. Do one trip outside of that radius and you are forced to use elogs for every subsequent trip.
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