tsa03

If You Perform

Out-Of-Province Inspections or Rebuild Written Off Vehicles

You Need To Read This...
Abridged From Alberta Transportation Press Release

New Traffic Safety Act takes effect May 20, 2003
The Traffic Safety Act (TSA) and the Traffic Safety Amendment Act, which will become law on May 20, 2003.

The new legislation replaces the Highway Traffic Act, the Motor Vehicle Administration Act, the Motor Transport Act and the Off-Highway Vehicle Act. It is a consolidated approach to road safety providing clarity for all road users from driver instructors, enforcement and the public. "This has been a long and arduous undertaking to revise the four Acts into one and 35 regulations into 18," said Ed Stelmach, Minister of Transportation. "We are making these changes for the safety of all drivers who use Alberta's roads."

Highlights of the new legislation according to Alberta Transportation are:

Graduated Driver Licensing program for first time drivers, regardless of age who will have to meet specific requirements prior to obtaining a full driver's licence.

Updating fines that had not been reviewed in over16 years. More than 95 per cent of fines have been increased.

Commercial vehicles and vehicle equipment. All lights on vehicles must comply with the Transport Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the SAE standard for lights on a vehicle. It will be an offence to drive a vehicle equipped with lights not authorized by the legislation. Minor changes will occur to the rules of the road and commercial vehicle and general safety regulations.
How the Traffic Safety Act impacts the Repair Industry

While Alberta Transportation focused in their press release on changes in the Traffic Safety Act (TSA) which will impact consumers as a whole, there are changes to Write-off vehicle inspections and out-of-province vehicle inspections which will significantly impact Alberta collision shops and Alberta repair shops.

These changes have been implemented to deal with safety and inspection accuracy problems that have arisen under the old inspection programs. If your business performs out-of-province inspections or rebuilds written off vehicle you need to read this article. Don’t hesitate to call ASRA for more information.

Under the current legislation, all out of province vehicles must be inspected and certified before registration in Alberta and all vehicles written off by insurers that are rebuilt must also be inspected and certified before registration.

The new TSA changes the inspection environment for these two types of inspections completely. Inspection authority will be removed from individual technicians and shift to licensed technicians who work for inspection stations. Alberta Transportation will license Inspection stations. Inspection Technicians must also be licensed and they must work in licensed Inspection Stations to inspect and certify vehicles. That means the responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of an out-of-province or write-off inspection now belongs to the shop performing the inspection!

This should completely do away with the $50 cash "meet you in the McDonalds’s parking lot" out-of-province inspection and the "Car hasn’t been repaired yet but it is already re-certified" write-of inspection!

Effective May 20^th, changes under the TSA will require that only licensed technicians in licensed facilities inspect out-of-province vehicles and written-off vehicles.

Conditions of licensing for the inspection station include being audited for specified minimum equipment requirements (contact the ASRA office for a detailed list of necessary equipment). The inspection station will pay a one-time pre-licensing audit fee of $197.95 and a $50 annual licence fee.
Journeymen technicians licensed to perform these inspections will be granted a five-year licence to be accredited to inspect at a licensed station. The formal rules for the new technician licenses will be release over the next few months. Technicians that are licensed under the current legislation will be allowed to perform inspections at inspection stations for 90 days while the technician licence rules are developed.

Watch your fax for upcoming ASRA meetings that will allow you to get detailed information about changes to the motor vehicle inspection program from ASRA, Alberta Transportation and the contractor running the program: Alberta Permit Pro. Station licensing packages are available from Alberta Permit Pro at 1-800-461-8706. Call them for inspection station applications and to schedule your inspection station audit. Ž

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