Safer Highways Discussion: reader letters and comments
Photo: Pine Ridges Services
“I am wondering why there isn’t a graduated licensing system for truck drivers?”
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“This is 100% guys, glad to see you guys stepping up.”
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“Boy, I have a provincial government training, flop experience through the WorkBC/YWCA class 1 commercial drivers program for women. It was called ‘Changing gears.’
They scrapped the program after I had my submissions to them.
Unbelievable. I’m still dealing with it from March 2020. If you’re interested in knowing the flawed, $16,000 program details, let me know. I’ve been a safety practitioner for 17 years with all of my certifications.”
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“I have been driving since 1980 in various industries and pulled many different trailers all across North America. I have witnessed the decline of knowledge and skills in many of the new Canadian drivers. There is no consistency in quality of training from school to school, and in worse cases drivers are not taught many key required skills to be the best they am be. Now, as a safety manager and trainer I believe we need drastic and immediate changes to the industry before we can seek a designation of “professional driver.”
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“Current Ontario standards by the MTO have openly said they do not have manpower to police the trucking schools who give the MELT courses, even when driver examiners are reporting their students as showing signs of fraudulent MELT certificates being issued without proper hours.
Instead, the MTO relies on examiners to ‘hold the line’ and audit them since they can fine them when found lacking and build MTO revenue, unlike with schools when they are audited and found lacking they lose revenue that was generated per student. This does not and cannot work when they also push very heavily on the examiners to have better pass rates.”
