Ontario's Provincial ELD Requirement Comes Into Force

In June 2022, Ontario's own electronic logging device (ELD) requirement for commercial vehicle drivers came into force. Updates to Ontario Regulation 555/06 (Hours of Service) under the Highway Traffic Act took effect on June 12, 2022, making it mandatory for commercial motor vehicle drivers operating within Ontario to use an ELD to record their hours of service, unless an exemption applied.

The provincial rules sat alongside the federal ELD mandate for federally regulated carriers. In a March 2022 letter to carriers, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) said the provincial regulations closely matched the federal mandate to simplify things for carriers operating both inside and outside the province, and that details had first been communicated on November 1, 2021.

Who was covered

According to an MTO information pamphlet, the general rule was simple: drivers who had been required to complete a daily log under Ontario's hours-of-service rules had to use a certified ELD as of June 12, 2022.

The hours-of-service rules themselves did not change, and neither did the list of drivers who had to follow them and keep a record of duty status (RODS). The ELD replaced paper-based logs where a RODS was required.

The pamphlet listed these exemptions from the ELD requirement:

• drivers operating within 160 km of where they began the day and returning to the same place at the end of the day;
• school bus drivers;
• drivers of rented commercial vehicles under a rental agreement of 30 days or less that had not been extended or renewed;
• drivers of commercial vehicles with a model year before 2000;
• employees or operators of a commercial vehicle dealership or manufacturer driving a vehicle for sale or lease, without a load and without towing anything other than an empty vehicle with a set of wheels on the road; and
• drivers otherwise exempt from hours-of-service requirements under O. Reg. 555/06.

Buses operating in Ontario were temporarily exempt until July 1, 2023. Only ELDs certified by a body accredited by Transport Canada could be used.

No penalties until 2023

Although the requirement took effect in June, MTO provided an education and awareness period without penalties until January 1, 2023, for commercial truck operators. That matched the decision by Canadian jurisdictions, announced through the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators on March 7, 2022, to keep the federal mandate in an education phase until the same date.

The pamphlet said penalties for hours-of-service offences in Ontario ranged from $250 to $20,000 and could include up to six months' imprisonment. Set fines for tickets issued for ELD-related offences ranged from $250 to $400.

Responsibilities for operators and drivers

The pamphlet set out duties for operators, including:

• buying, installing and maintaining certified ELDs compatible with the vehicle's engine;
• mounting the device in a fixed position visible to the driver and viewable from outside the vehicle for roadside inspection;
• setting up a separate personal account for each driver;
• monitoring drivers' hours of service; and
• keeping an information packet in the vehicle, including a user's manual, data-transfer instructions, malfunction procedures and enough blank RODS forms to cover at least 15 days.

Drivers had to log in with their own user ID, make sure recorded and entered information was accurate, make annotations and handle edits, and produce their RODS for an officer both on the device and by electronic transfer. If a device malfunctioned, drivers had to notify the operator once the vehicle was parked, switch to an alternative method of keeping their RODS and record the malfunction code.

MTO reminded drivers travelling outside Ontario to check the ELD rules in each jurisdiction on their route.

Archive: this article describes rules and events as of June 2022. Regulations may have changed since, so check the current rule before relying on it.