Common sense and a good understanding of human nature can help determine times of greatest risk as it relates to driving habits. Advances in traffic enforcement technology means it is now more common for an employee to lose their licence on their private time, such as on a long weekend or over the holidays. In addition, suspensions can now be received for child support.

With our busy lives these days, finding the time for simple tasks such as renewing a licence can be easily overlooked, as can updating medical requirements or being late in paying a ticket.

This can be unsettling to all of us when some companies only check employee licences annually to meet the bare minimum national safety code (NSC) requirements. High driver turnover, tight safety budget constraints or difficulty in obtaining abstracts in or out of province compounds this management nightmare, which in turn poses big risks for a company.

If not frequently checked, many unlicenced drivers go undetected in company vehicles, especially for companies without a proper driver compliance program in place. This risk is what PMTC refers to as “Road Risk Exposure” or RRE.

Road Risk Exposure is the measurement of the total days a fleet has a suspended or unqualified driver in their operations that goes undetected. Put simply, if you only verify your fleet drivers once per year, you may have a driver whose licence was suspended on the day you receive the verification/abstract. That driver would be 364 days suspended driving in your fleet, which is a maximum threat to your insurance coverage for your business, the corporate Directors and the public’s safety. Instead, by checking drivers more frequently (such as quarterly) in addition to strategically checking special ‘Risk Windows’ times (for example, after public holidays, licence and medical expiries), the chances of preventing a suspended driver in your fleet increases substantially, while slashing your Road Risk Exposure to a minimum. Checking monthly brings the RRE further down to top rated industry-leading levels.

 Why check your drivers? 

The visual inspection of each driver’s licence or recent abstract is not enough. A driver’s licence status can change at any moment. Recent CVSA Roadcheck statistics show an unbelievable average disqualified driver rate of 10%.

Unfortunately driver licences can become invalid/suspended for a number of reasons including; nonpayment of family support orders, unpaid fines, licence change from province to province, failure to renew or update medical requirements, class downgrade, doctors’ orders, criminal code and impaired or impaired with an ignition interlock restriction.

A driver with an invalid/suspended licence can cost your organization in a number of different ways:

• • Insurance companies won’t cover vehicle damage. Why pay if not covered?

• • Your company vehicle can be impounded for 7 to 45 days if the driver is caught driving while suspended (see recommended frequency).

• • Damage to corporate reputation and negative media attention.

• • Exposure to fines and Provincial Safety Rating demerit points.

• • Costly civil litigation in the case of an accident/incident.

• • Owners and Directors including managers can now be fined or even jailed under section 217.1 of the Canadian Criminal Code for serious accidents involving invalid drivers.

• Lost revenue, upset customers and out of service vehicles.

Protecting your organization is both easy and inexpensive

For just pennies per driver per day, you can have 24/7 online access to all Canadian provinces and territories licensing department databases to instantly check driver’s licence status and class. Check licences at the fraction of the cost and effort of obtaining an abstract. (Full abstract checks should still be done in addition, at least once per year.) PMTC’s “Driver’s Licence Verification System” is a simple low-cost way to check the current status and class of any employee(s) or subcontractor(s). With years of proven performance, PMTC members are finding value with each licence checked and verified; this simple online service now gives compliance managers anytime access to all provinces and territories to easily manage driver compliance while reducing administration time to do it.

Submitting the verification check is as simple as a few clicks and keystrokes on your computer at your convenience. Within seconds, you can confirm if a driver’s licence is Valid/Not Valid or has an interlock (impaired) requirement, along with confirmation of the current Class of vehicle the licence holder is allowed to drive.

Using the Submit Batch option allows you to upload your entire fleet driver licences in a spreadsheet with results produced online and sent directly to your inbox email within seconds, including a PDF report of the results and excel export options from the PMTC web portal.

Result issues with licences are brightly highlighted in emails or on screen for quick review/response without sorting through piles of paper than can be easily missed or difficult to decipher. Results can be accessed and exported for up to three years for history reporting by licence number or other filters. 

Recommended frequency

It is recommended to check drivers at minimum quarterly to comply with the recent Ontario Commercial Vehicle Impound Program (CVIP) implemented regarding suspended drivers. Few seem aware that this law also includes out of province drivers entering Ontario.

With increasing numbers of suspended drivers in company vehicles, you can now manage the risk quickly and easily and have peace of mind that your drivers hold a valid licence of the proper class. The system has proved time and again that regular, more frequent verification intervals directly reduce overall corporate risk and is keeping the roads safer for everyone.

For more information contact PMTC at 1-877-501-PMTC or visit www.pmtc.ca to sign up for free access.

Fast, easy and effective – check your entire fleet in seconds with results on screen and sent to your email.