Fatigued truck drivers are one of the factors causing the 400 fatalities involving heavy trucks every year in Canada. A new list published online by U.S. authorities has revealed that 14 companies in the Windsor-Essex area violated the rules on drive-time limits within the last two years.Fatigued truck drivers are one of the factors causing the 400 fatalities involving heavy trucks every year in Canada. A new list published online by U.S. authorities has revealed that 14 companies in the Windsor-Essex area violated the rules on drive-time limits within the last two years. (Jason Kryk/Associated Press)

CBC News has identified 14 trucking companies in the Windsor-Essex area that have been flagged by a U.S. "alert" for having fatigued drivers in the past two years.

Drivers say the odds are good that any sampling of local drivers would reveal that too many are "running illegal" by pushing their work hours far beyond what they should be.

Hours of service

Across most of Canada, truckers are permitted to drive for up to 13 hours during the course of a day. In the U.S., they can drive for up to 11 hours in a 14-hour period, followed by 10 hours of rest.

In Canada, truckers can be on duty 70 hours in any consecutive, seven-day period. In the U.S., truckers can be on duty 60 hours in the same period, or 70 hours in eight days.

David Bradley, president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), said he doesn't believe that Canadian hours of service rules need to change.

He said a number of factors contribute to driver fatigue, including nutrition, exercise, sleep habits and conditions like sleep apnea.

In Canada, drivers may work for up to 13 hours without a sleep break. In the U.S., the rules are 11 hours without sleep.

"It's probably one in every four trucks out there, the guys are still running illegal," said Arthur Partridge, a veteran driver from Kitchener, Ont.

Partridge, who drives to the U.S. and back, said the "flat-out dangerous" behaviour of other fatigued truckers on the roads is scary.

"When that truck starts going over the yellow line, you can see, they look over at you, eyeballs hanging down."

He said his company, the major transport firm CAT Transport, is one of the good ones. Drivers who defy the sleeping rules can expect a fine from the company itself, which is the way it should be.

But not all companies operate like that.

The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently began posting "alerts" online for companies whose truckers are caught for driving while fatigued. A staggering 14 companies were listed from the Windsor-Essex area by the U.S. officials:

  • TST Expedited Services Inc. (Windsor)
  • JGE Transport (Essex)
  • Pete & Annie's Trucking (Ruthven)
  • Rollin Stone Heavy Haul DOT (Dresden)
  • Movin Freight (Windsor)
  • Produce Xpress (Ruthven)
  • Trekk Transport DOT (Windsor)
  • Greenlink Truck Lines DOT (Windsor)
  • Kent Farm Supplies Ltd. (Blenheim)
  • Wayne Pouget (Amherstburg)
  • Waylon J Dorner (Chatham)
  • Maxmeadows (Leamington)
  • Amco Express Inc (Leamington)
  • Yvon Dault (Kingsville)

Movin Freight, based in Windsor, has 30 vehicles and drivers, and no history of crashes. Even so, it had enough tired drivers in the past two years to warrant triggering an alert with the U.S. officials.

"We've had six instances where … we've had either a fatigued driver or a driver caught falsifying a log," said Bill Kehn, the President of Movin Freight. "They're ticketed and shut down for a certain period of time until they're ready to go again."

After the fatigue alerts, Movin Freight hired a safety advisor to educate its drivers.

Electronic log books that would have a built-in GPS tracking system would ensure that drivers can't cheat in their log books. They've been in demand by the Canadian Trucking Association since 2004, but some small companies have resisted, complaining that the technology would mean too much added cost.