Truckers' Training

In a typical western way of reacting after a crisis, provincial governments such as Saskatchewan and Alberta are either planning on doing something about the lack of training for truck drivers or at least are thinking about it. There seems to have been great shock on the part of the media, the politicians and the general public about how easy it is to get a licence to drive those large trucks - those trucks that we depend upon to get much of our food and other necessities of life to our stores in a timely fashion.  I don't know why everyone is so surprised. It has been common knowledge in the trucking industry for decades.

I appreciate the fact that I have perhaps had more contact with truck drivers than some but all one would have to do is ask any experienced truck driver and they would have told you about some of the truckers on the road. I have even written a number of times in my blog about what some truck drivers had said about the poor training and the fact that so many of the new drivers have very little sense of what it means to be a truck driver. I can remember one of my drivers in northern Ontario saying to me that it was harder to get a motorcycle licence that a trucking license and he had been an instructor! While all of my drivers have seemed to be skilled, and the ones who drive through the mountains especially so - there is no doubt that there are drivers who are less skilled or experienced.

One of the problems in the trucking industry are the owners - some of whom appear to be quite willing to bend the rules. One of my drivers (again in Northern Ontario) who clearly had had little training and who spoke very little English, did not drive in cities. He would go to a specific truck stop,  drop his trailer, pick up a new one and then drive back to North Bay. Conveniently his route in fact had only one truck weighing station - one that is very seldom open. This gentleman never did his log books, he did not know how - he said someone else did them for him - which is illegal. After spending 18 hours with him, my singular impression of him was that he was very afraid of being caught doing something wrong. Drivers such as this one are seldom seen eating in the restaurants, nor do they appear to socialize with other drivers. A number of my drivers have suggested that truck drivers new to this country get paid less than others and therefore were undercutting other drivers. While it is tempting to blame the trucker and even perhaps the government for poor training (or lack thereof), it is the owners who hire such drivers, who push the drivers to maximize their time; it is the owners who hire poorly trained drivers, do little or nothing to train them on the job and in the end trust that things will be okay.  

While a heightened public awareness as to the training of truckers is a good thing, especially if it leads to reasonable new policies - I suspect that at least in the short term the people who drive cars (some truckers call them 4 wheelers) will have discovered more reasons to disrespect truckers, to drive dangerously around them and to blame them when there is an accident. It is fair to argue that all truckers need to be trained to a certain level of proficiency including being mentored by more experienced drivers but it is important to remember that there is a whole system of delivery in place and all components of that system must work together ensure the public safety. Training alone a few drivers will not ensure my safety on the roads.