A New Way of Thinking

Partners in Compliance (PIC) is a unique, "Alberta-made" approach to enhanced carrier performance and safety. A partnership between Alberta Transportation and the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA), the PIC program is enhancing operational compliance and highway safety by having carriers take greater responsibility for their own performance.

Carriers who join the PIC program commit to a high level of compliance with benchmark criteria, monitor their own operations, submit reports on a quarterly basis, and agree to random vehicle inspections. This allows government resources to be redirected and focused on those carriers who choose not to comply with regulations and require greater enforcement.

The PIC program does not simply acknowledge and endorse excellent carriers. It is a management program and process that assists carriers to become and remain excellent carriers.

Measuring Performance

Carriers volunteer to join the PIC program and commit to operating within eight key benchmark criteria:

Safety/professional driver qualifications
Reportable collision data/analysis
Equipment inspection/repair
Professional driver's hours of service
Dangerous goods
Vehicle weight and dimensional management
Fuel Tax/Treasury compliance
Prorate/Registries compliance

Approved 'PIC carriers' are rewarded through operational and financial considerations. They receive expedited service at vehicle inspection stations and roadside inspections. They are exempt from a number of audits such as Traffic Safety Services audits, Transportation of Dangerous Goods audits and International Registration Plan audits. They also receive special prorate annual vehicle renewals.

The PIC program has received endorsement from numerous carrier and shipping groups, associations and institutions. All provincial trucking associations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, as has the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, acknowledging the PIC program as the carrier excellence program for Canada.

Updated February 2006