Canada Brake system requirements?????

Well not for our Heartland, I think folks on here can give me a good answer.

My parents have a 36' Diesel pusher and tow a Geo tracker with a tow bar. They are planning a trip into Canada (specifically British Columbia and Alberta), at the border or anywhere else do they check for a brake system or brake-away? Trying to read the laws is getting VERY confusing.

For those of you that live or have traveled through Canada please help shed some light on this.

BC makes a clear distention between trailer and tow-bar pulled cars, Alberta does not make it clear.

Is a brake-away system required on a light car pulled with a tow-bar in Alberta?

Customs will not check this at the border. That s a job for the police and DOT and they are not the ones at the border checking. Customs could give a rip less about how you are hooked up. They only want to know what you are brining in to the country ie... weapons, meat, fruit, tobacco, money etc.... as well as check your passports and ID..... and will probably look inside the coach and toad.

I don't know what the exact laws are for a breakaway and brakes on a light toad but our driveaway drivers don't run any braking system on them (our contractors are not supposed to have vehicle with more than 3500 lb GVW) and we run 49 states and all provinces of Canada. They just run a 4 pin hookup for lights.

Now I do know that the guys that deliver travel trailers running up with 2 pickups and then towing one back with a tow bar have to have a brake system on them in some areas.

Generally, for all vehicle requirements, vehicle licensing and driver licensing etc, Canadian provinces respect the rules of the state where the vehicle/RV is registered. Rules vary from province to province as they do for the US states. Unless anyone knows of any exceptions, then if you are legal in your home state/province then you are good to go anywhere.<qtlbar id="qtlbar" dir="ltr" style="display: inline; text-align: left; line-height: 100%; padding: 0pt; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); -moz-border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; cursor: move; z-index: 999; left: 539px; top: 36px; opacity: 0.9;"> <iframe id="qtlframe" src="" style="display: none; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); background-color: white;"></iframe></qtlbar>

Here is a web site http://www.woodalls.com/articledetails.aspx?articleID=2377513 for rules of the road, has some good info for all states and Canada. Hope this helps.

Tankie:
good info, thanks for sharing

Willym said:

Generally, for all vehicle requirements, vehicle licensing and driver licensing etc, Canadian provinces respect the rules of the state where the vehicle/RV is registered. Rules vary from province to province as they do for the US states. Unless anyone knows of any exceptions, then if you are legal in your home state/province then you are good to go anywhere.<qtlbar id="qtlbar" dir="ltr" style="display: inline; text-align: left; line-height: 100%; padding: 0pt; background-color: rgb(236, 236, 236); -moz-border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; cursor: move; z-index: 999; left: 539px; top: 36px; opacity: 0.9;">

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Click to expand...

I would be concerned that this information is not correct when it comes to towing... best to check the provinces' code.

CS