Ontario Truckers to Be Exempt for 3 Years from Ban on Handheld Radio Devices
By Michele Fuetsch, Staff Reporter
This story appears in the Oct. 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Truckers in Ontario got a three-year exemption from the Canadian province’s broad new ban on using handheld devices for their use of citizens band or two-way radios.
Ontario’s ban against handheld devices for talking, texting, typing, dialing or e-mailing while driving takes effect for all drivers on Oct. 26.
For truckers, however, the ban contains a three-year exemption for CB and other two-way radios in recognition that they need the communication devices until new, fixed devices can be installed.
“Three years should be enough time to implement hands-free solutions and, in fact, several options are available in the marketplace now,” said Bob Nichols, spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
“Three years will also give companies enough time to review what communications really need to take place while driving, because collisions are very bad for business,” Nichols said.
For the first three months after the ban takes effect, police will only inform truck and car drivers about the new law and its prohibition against such practices as text messaging and using cell phones while driving.
Beginning Feb. 1, 2010, however, police will issue tickets that could cost drivers a fine as high as C$500 for using handheld devices while driving.
Police, paramedics, firefighters and anyone using a handheld device to call 911 are exempt.
“There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the new law is directionally appropriate,” David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association, wrote in a statement assessing the new law.
He said the association supported the intent and principle of the ban and worked with the Ministry of Transportation in shaping the new law.
The trucking association, Bradley said, believes the ministry “has made reasonable accommodation” for the industry.
The law allows for cell phones, hand mikes or other push-to-talk systems and portable radios, as long as the devices are hands-free.
The devices must be mounted so the driver can push a button to talk or receive communications. The devices may not hang from the dashboard or the roof of the cab.
“There is a permanent exemption for satellite, navigation, collision avoidance and other fleet management systems for the viewing of logistical information on the display,” the trucking association said in its statement.
However, the law does not allow a driver to use such devices while holding them in the hand if the vehicle is moving.
Bradley acknowledged that the phasing out of handheld CB radios is controversial.
“Given the still-pervasive use of these devices in the industry,” Bradley said, “I expect there could be push-back from some truck drivers.”
The three-year exemption, he said, will give the industry time to monitor how technology develops and, if necessary, time to revisit the issue.
Nichols said that the ministry included exemptions in the new law after consultations with the trucking industry and others whose work depends on communication devices.
Distracted driving is a provincial and not a federal issue in Canada, Nichols said. Ontario’s legislation, he said, is more comprehensive than that in other provinces, where cell phone use is the only issue that has been addressed.
