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.
