Quebec allows trailer tails

Quebec Transport Minister Jacques Daoust has signed a ministerial decree authorizing the use of trailer tails in Quebec as of Apr. 6.
The notice was posted in the Gazette Officielle du Quebec on March 23.
This order is intended to be a transitional measure pending a modification of permanent regulations. The province says the transitional measures will help to maintain the competitiveness of the Quebec trucking industry while contributing to faster reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
“These systems are installed at the rear of the trailer and unfold when the vehicle is in motion,” says Normand Bourque, coordinator, technical and operational issues with the Quebec Trucking Association (ACQ). “They have the effect of reducing turbulence at the rear of the vehicle, hence the gain in energy efficiency. The amendment in question is intended to allow longer (trailer tails), for greater efficiency, and allows Quebec to harmonize the regulation with the Canadian standard loads and dimensions.”
Quebec joins almost all other Canadian provinces that already allows trailer tails.
“Canadian fleets could save $3 billion worth of fuel over the next decade,” earlier said ATDynamics founder and CEO Andrew Smith. “Trailer tails improve the air flow aft of the trailer and have been proven to improve fuel economy by up to 5%, or up to 9-12% when coupled with trailer side skirts.”
To be authorized, aerodynamic systems must have the following characteristics:
be flexible, foldable and located at the rear of a vehicle or combination of vehicles
any portion of the system located at 1.9 m and more above ground must not exceed, when unfolded, 1.52 m from the back of the vehicle
any portion of the system at less than 1.9 m above ground does not exceed, when unfolded, a virtual line connecting the following points: (a point 1.74 m from the ground and 1.21 m the rear end of the vehicle and a point at the rear end and the lowermost part of the bumper of the vehicle or, in the absence of such a bumper, a point at the rear end, the lowest of the vehicle);
any part of the system does not exceed, when folded, 30.5 cm from the back of the vehicle.
Thus, the added length of the aerodynamic system to the vehicle or vehicle combination is excluded:
From the following dimensions limits provided with the regulations (maximum length of a vehicle or combination of vehicles, length of the trailer, a trailer length, body length, and length of the effective rear cantilever);
the obligation after 1 m, to affix a flag or a red light at the back, as provided for in section 474 of the Code of road safety, when the system exceeds by more than 1 m the rear.
Source: Newcom Media