What Is Transportation Reform?
As consumer demand for products increase, so too does the number of commercial vehicles on our highways, interstates, and city streets. Each passing day brings more and more transport trucks and the number of drivers required to operate these vehicles. The transportation industry in both Canada and the United States, has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several decades. This number is expected to continue increasing at a significant rate for decades to come. The number of passenger vehicles on our highways and interstates, has also dramatically increased with families having multiple vehicles. I believe that we need to work towards a major overhaul of our transportation practices and regulations that will move us forward in a safe, professional, and efficient manner.
I’ve put a lot of thought and effort into creating this project in hopes that it may be of some benefit to the federal, state, and provincial transportation branches of both Canada and the United States. These suggestions will significantly reduce the loss of life on our interstates and highways, improve education for both commercial and non-commercial drivers, increase homeland security for both Canada and the United States, streamline border crossings between our two countries, eliminate illegal and untrained drivers, create a shared database for law enforcement, equalize restrictions for all commercial and non-commercial vehicles, reduce the number of unsafe and unfit vehicles on our roads, simplify the commercial hours of service, define commercial vehicles classes and give back to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to keeping our countries moving forward.
I believe the time for change is overdue. It’s much easier to fix something small than wait for it to turn into something much bigger and more problematic. Our transportation industries, in both Canada and the United States, are nowhere close to being small at this time however, we do need to prevent our current problems from escalating. The transportation industry is one of the most over-regulated industries globally and there’s really no need for it. If our two countries can work together to implement badly needed changes within the transportation sectors, I know that we can restore pride and dignity to those who choose this as their lifetime career path.
This project began as “Transportation Reform 2017” in October of 2016 however, I feel this project requires a great deal more time and effort in order to receive the attention it deserves and requires. This site has received a full edit from the original project with the addition of many new and expanded aspects that were not included in the original. The time has come to start implementing those changes and pave the way for a brighter future for all of us.
Electronic Logs
With mandatory electronic logs now implemented in both Canada and the United States, this is one of the most important pages in this project. It is also one of the most complex pages that I will write as well. I am in favour of an electronic device in commercial vehicles. I may even be convinced that electronic logs are a good thing however, this technologically challenged old-timer will need a great deal of help learning how to use them. I am NOT in favour of mandatory electronic logs being brought in the way they are right now. There are many reasons I feel this would be a detrimental move to begin with, but bringing them in the way they are right now, would have devastating consequences for our already over-regulated industry, and here’s why:
Discriminatory
A) I have spent hours on Google and have been unsuccessful in finding any other profession or job that is government-mandated to keep track of every change of duty during one’s workday. A cashier at the grocery store is not required to record how many seconds they spend ringing up items, how many seconds are spent sweeping floors, or how many seconds are spent stocking shelves. Even a surgeon is not required to record how many seconds are spent assessing patients, updating medical charts, operating on a patient, or a phone consultation. I have not been able to find a single job of any kind that the government requires this kind of information, including government employees. Professional commercial drivers should not be required to record, by the second, each change of duty if there is not another single profession anywhere in Canada or the U.S., that also isn’t required to do this. It is discrimination against professional commercial drivers.
B) Only transport trucks are required to have electronic logs. Uber cars, school buses, courier vans, snow plows, tour buses, etc … are all commercial vehicles. All commercial vehicles are driven by professional drivers. None of these vehicles are required to have electronic log devices connected to their vehicle’s engine. We first need to reclassify what a professional commercial driver is and what a commercial vehicle is. Only after the reclassification of commercial motor vehicles can all be regulated equally otherwise, it is also discrimination.
C) Only transport trucks manufactured after 2004 are required to have electronic log devices installed and connected to their engine. I do understand this is because older trucks do not have the computers in them to enable these devices to be installed properly. I have also noticed a huge increase in the number of older model trucks on the road. Many owner-operators have purchased older trucks to avoid having to use electronic logs. We need a better system that will work for everyone regardless of the year of their truck.
Invasion Of Privacy
A) It is not just the information on our log pages that shows up on electronic log devices. These devices record and register many other pieces of information in addition to what our paper logs require us to record. They include but are not limited to, brake applications, instability, traction control, idle time, etc… Companies can see if our ignition is on and whether the engine is running.
B) Current regulations require us to carry the previous 14 days of our daily logs in our trucks and we must produce them when asked by scale house and law enforcement personnel. Companies are required to keep logs for 6 months before discarding these records. With them being computerized, logs may be kept permanently by employers, and scale house or law enforcement agencies have access to logs for a much longer period than is legally permittable.
C) It is none of anyone’s business, other than the person signing my paycheque, how many seconds I spend loading or unloading in a dock, how many seconds I spend fueling my truck, how many times I stop to go to the washroom and how many seconds I spend doing that. There is no reason that our government, scale house employees, or law enforcement officials also need to know this. No other profession is regulated like this that I can find.
Bio-Hazard
With electronic log devices in our trucks, a lot of drivers have this mentality that they must “go, go, go”. The clock is ticking and they don’t have time to stop at a rest area or service plaza to use the facilities. The use of plastic bottles or disposable cups is quickly becoming a very real and unhealthy hazard. These urine-filled containers litter our off-ramps and truck stop parking lots and it will only get worse. There are already many videos on the internet of drivers urinating in truck stop parking lots because they don’t want to waste 3 minutes going inside to use a toilet and instead relieve themselves beside their truck. I have personally witnessed several drivers dumping cups and bottles of urine on the ground in parking lots. This “go, go, go, the clock is ticking” attitude is very hazardous and will only get worse.
Increased Accidents
Because drivers now have a visual clock ticking beside them, this “go, go, go” attitude has surfaced. It also creates frustration in drivers who now feel they need to rush in everything they do. Drivers no longer have the patience to wait for others to back up, turn corners at a safe speed, do the speed limit through construction zones, or drive at a normal pace. They all feel as though they need to constantly try to save a minute here and a minute there. This has already created problems in truck stops where drivers flee after hitting another truck. It takes too long to exchange information and fill out accident reports. This will add to the loss of life on our highways and interstates as drivers race against a ticking clock counting down by the second.
Taking Without Replacing
Since the beginning of logbooks for professional commercial truckers, we have been regulated by 15-minute intervals. This leeway is something we have all learned to abide by. It is what we were taught from the first day we started learning how to operate these wonderful machines. It allows us to compensate for unavoidable and unforeseen things that come up during our workday. You have taken that lifeline away from us. Once again stripping us of a vital tool and again, not replacing it with something else that we can use. It means we can run out of hours simply because of a few red lights, a construction zone, and any number of other things that are part of our everyday lives. It will also lead to a whole host of other problems.
Reduced Earnings
I hear people all the time saying if we are running compliant now that we won’t lose anything with electronic logs but this is not true. If I am at mile marker 100 and I know the next truck stop is at mile marker 200, I know I have to drive 100 miles before I can end my day. Now let’s say my truck is governed at 60 miles an hour to make it simple. 100 miles will then equal 100 minutes and I have 100 minutes left to drive for the day. I can’t make it to the next truck stop on electronic logs but can on paper logs. It will take me 100 minutes to drive to the exit and 3 or 4 minutes to get off the highway, wait for the light to turn green so I can turn the corner, pull into the truck stop, find a parking space, wait for the guy in front of me to back up who doesn’t know how to back up, get myself backed into a space and go off duty. On paper logs, I have that 15-minute interval. On electronic logs, I have to shut down 100 minutes early. Now if I have to shut down early a few times per week, that lost time will add up. Let’s say I average a loss of just 250 minutes or even just 250 miles per week. Over 50 weeks is 12,500 miles that I could have driven on paper logs. I make $0.60 per mile so in a year I would lose $7,500. Now I used to make $21.65 per hour 10 years ago and at that time, it was 3 times the minimum wage. I was recently offered $16.00 per hour by a company I worked for 15 years ago. The minimum wage is now $11.25 per hour. Our wages have not been protected and now with electronic logs, we will lose even more of our income.
Excessive Costs
For small companies, the cost of equipping trucks with these devices will be the beginning of the end for them. These devices can cost upwards of $600 per vehicle not including installation and taxes. This is in addition to the ongoing monthly expense of monitoring them and having access to them. Having just 20 trucks will be felt especially in today’s cutthroat industry with so many illegal drivers on the roads. Our wages have not kept up because shipping costs have not increased. With pressure to keep transportation costs low and rising fuel prices, this is just one more expense that will also affect driver wages.
We Lose Control
For the first time in the history of transportation, I no longer have control of my logbook. I did work for a company for 7 months that uses electronic logs so I do understand them. I sat beside my safety officer and my driver trainer and watched these 2 men change my logs on their computer. For companies that are less than exemplary, and certainly, for these fly-by-night companies, it enables them to change our logs without our knowledge or consent. I have a friend I will call Carleen. She worked for one of these fly-by-night companies when I met her. She told me that she was 1 hour away from her delivery and ran out of hours. Her company told her to keep driving and they would change her logs for her. If you take control of our logs away from us, or you give access to other people, you will be allowing them to force us to run more hours than we should be. This will increase driver fatigue and increase accidents and loss of life. You absolutely cannot give anyone access to our logs except us. Right now, no one can force me to run over hours and I have enough experience that no company will ever succeed in doing this to me. There are a lot of new drivers out there and they simply won’t or can’t stand up for themselves. They are afraid of losing their jobs or don’t know any better so they will keep driving when they are told to. Hell, my oldest son was told it was legal to take a trailer on the road after the annual safety expired. When he questioned it, they told him it was legal as long as he didn’t leave the city. He moved the trailer believing they were telling him the truth. I lost my mind and wanted to call his company. You can’t allow anyone to have access to change our logs.
Unsafe Parking
One thing that every government in both Canada and the U.S. is guilty of, is relying on private corporations to provide us with a safe place to park for the night. Even with the many truck stops that are out there, the rest areas, and service plazas that we do have, there is not enough parking. There are many abandoned or closed rest areas in the U.S. that could be opened back up but we still won’t have enough space. Ontario is proud of its OnRoute locations. They are very nice and clean but not a single one of them has sufficient parking for transport trucks. We need more parking so unless you plan on building new truck parking facilities every 30 miles on all highways in both countries, you can’t regulate us by the second. I can pull off the interstate at 8 pm and go through 3 truck stops and still not find a single place to park for the night. Any later than this is almost a guarantee there are no open spaces. Arkansas is famous for not allowing parking on the sides of on-ramps and off-ramps. When we run out of hours and there is no parking, what are we supposed to do?
Exceptions
Coming into Canada at 2:30 am one night, I was met with a back-up down I 75. It took me more than 3 hours to get across the Ambassador Bridge. What happens when we run out of hours waiting to get to the bridge? How about a truck jackknife in a construction zone that takes 4 or 5 hours to clear and we run out of hours? Right now the only slack would be due to adverse weather conditions that we didn’t know about before we started our trip. Sorry, this doesn’t work for many reasons. We need to be able to write an exception on electronic logs for things we can’t control and have no knowledge of before we leave our yard besides just weather.
By The Second, Really?
So I have mentioned several times that with electronic logs, we would be governed by the second instead of by 15-minute intervals. I sat at a truck stop for my 30-minute break playing a video game on my phone. I looked up and the clock on the electronic log said I had been there 29 minutes. I put my phone away and put on my seat belt. When the clock said 30 minutes, I put the truck in gear, pushed the brakes, and off I went. I got up onto the interstate and the computer tinged. I looked over and it said I had 27 minutes until my next 30-minute break. I called the company and my driver trainer said I went back on duty 4 seconds too soon. It said 30 minutes but it’s 31 minutes. So what’s 1 minute? No big deal right? I can’t count the times I pulled into a truck stop only to have my logs go red because I was over hours. I was in a truck stop parking lot but didn’t get into a spot fast enough to hit off-duty before that last second. One second is a huge deal, especially for electronic logs.
Permanent Records
By now almost everyone is familiar with the fact that computer files never truly erase. We have all heard about this recently with political scandals all over the news channels. Current law requires that I keep log sheets for 14 days with me at all times. These must be surrendered to law enforcement and scale house personnel upon request. My company is required to retain log sheets for 6 months and then discard them.
Electronic logs will create a computer record of my logs and even after 6 months, they will not truly be deleted. When files are deleted from a computer, they can still be retrieved by anyone who understands how a computer works. 10 years from now, my log sheets will still exist and can be used against me. This is not acceptable to me and it shouldn’t be acceptable to you either.
Under this same concern also comes the number of log pages these current electronic log systems create. Every change of duty creates a new page. Let’s say I am driving along and suddenly come to a very long traffic back-up. This is not unusual. It’s part of our everyday lives however, what is different is the way the electronic log systems handle it. After I sit for a couple of minutes, it changes me to on-duty not driving. I go forward a little way and it changes to on-duty driving. I stop again and it changes to on-duty not driving and so on. Every single change of duty creates a new log page on the computer. Instead of having one paper page at the end of the day, I have 20 or 30 pages for that one day. If I then enter a scale and the scale house inspector wants to see my log page for that day, they have to print or download all 20 or 30 pages and sort through them to piece together my day.
Without A Trial
If I walk into a store and steal a candy bar then walk out, the shop owner calls the police to report a crime has taken place. The police investigated that crime, arrested me, and charged me with the crime. I then have the right to an attorney and a fair trial by a judge or by a jury of my peers. Under both Canadian and American laws, I am innocent until proven guilty. I go to court, as is another of my rights, and am found guilty. I am then proven to have committed a crime and am sentenced to house arrest since I don’t currently have a criminal background and it is my first offense. Now I am a criminal and must serve the sentence placed upon me by a judge. I am then required to wear an anklet so law enforcement can check my whereabouts and monitor my activities. Does this sound familiar? It should since you have skipped everything up to the electronic monitor you have forced me to have in my truck.
I have not committed a crime, there has been no investigation of me, I was not charged with a crime, I did not have an attorney, I was not given my right to be heard in a court of law or a fair trial, I was not sentenced so why must I comply with the punishment of having an electronic monitor? Again, please tell me about any other profession where the employees are treated like criminals. What other job does the government require workers to be electronically monitored throughout their workday? I am not a criminal and I resent being treated like one.
Electronic Babysitters
I am a 51-year-old, mature, responsible, professional trucker. I raised my sons entirely on my own to be strong, responsible, caring members of society. I resent that I will now have an electronic babysitter in my truck. I do not require a babysitter nor do I want one. I am quite capable of doing my logs and have done just that for the past 18 and a half years. I resent your implication that I am no longer capable of continuing this portion of my professional life without your interference and I sure as hell don’t need you monitoring everything I do while I am working. I am not a child and I don’t need or want your electronic babysitter in my truck.
Summary
Mandatory electronic logs have created very hazardous and potentially deadly consequences not just to truckers, but also to all road users, communities, and individuals. Increased driver fatigue, increased accidents, increased loss of life, loss of control by drivers, even more discrimination, invasion of privacy, bio-hazard conditions, and other points I have made here all add up to an epidemic of destruction to transportation. Imagine if those increased accidents involve trucks carrying dangerous goods. Contamination to ground source drinking water would be very likely as well. The time for change is now but that change can’t include electronic logs. Not now, not the way they are currently designed.
I would also like to see the studies our governments have done on the effects of electronic logs. Special thanks to Big Rig Videos for permission to use this video on this page. Please take a few minutes and watch the following video.
Transportation Reform 2017
Greetings and thank you for taking the time to drop by. The pages in this section were originally written as part of a project that was submitted to several politicians both in Canada and The United States. Unfortunately, it has been ignored by all except the Federal Minister of Transportation for Canada.
The Honourable Marc Garneau, P.C., M.P. did respond with “At the outset, I would like to commend you for the significant work that you have put into developing your Transportation Reform 2017 document. I found it interesting, well-written, and quite comprehensive. It demonstrates a strong commitment to improving road safety and the working conditions for professional commercial vehicle drivers.” This is just the first paragraph of the response but it was very encouraging.
Because of this response, I felt that I was on the right track and needed to continue. I have created this site in hopes that others in a position to make the change will also take the time to read through these pages. I have added new pages and will continue to do so until I have everything written out.
You may agree with everything, with some things and not others, or with nothing at all that I have written. You may agree partially with the things I have written but have better solutions than the ones I have come up with. I welcome and encourage you to write to me if you disagree or have other suggestions. I want to hear your thoughts.
I will publish every letter I feel relates directly to these subjects so long as it is not a personal attack on me. Please read through the pages and send me your feedback whether it’s positive or negative. I like compliments too.
Please keep in mind that everything I write is based on more than 50 years of knowledge, 25 years of personal experience, and a lifetime of understanding as a professional commercial driver and trainer.
Have a wonderful day and stay safe.
Universal Licensing
I would like to propose a universal commercial driver license that would be used by all Canadian and American professional drivers. If we could involve Mexico in issuing these licenses as well, that would be a very good step in the right direction. This license would be linked to the shared database and would replace all current commercial licenses. This would require all driver licenses for commercial vehicles would be identical except for the top right corner of the card which would indicate this state, province, or territory it was issued in and the country’s flag.
I feel this is very important for a number of reasons but mainly because it would eliminate fraudulent licenses. A few years ago one of the large trucking companies was found to have a significant number of drivers all using the same driver’s license number. Obviously, they were all fraudulent licenses but each of the men using one was able to gain full-time employment with a decent size company. It wasn’t a back alley company that doesn’t care about anything other than the fact that there’s a warm body in the seat.
With universal licenses, each license would have a unique identification number and could not be duplicated. To prevent it from being used to make phony licenses, this license would need to be swiped into a vehicle’s mandatory electronic computer in order to start the engine. To further ensure that universal license identification numbers are not duplicated, trucking companies may have limited access, via the internet, to register new drivers upon being hired. The shared database would then indicated that the license was registered to a driver at any other company. The mandatory electronic computers will be vital to ensuring fraudulent licenses become a thing of the past.
So let me explain that in a little more detail. A professional driver receives a new universal license and is about to start their day. They go out to their truck and swipe their license in the electronic computer of their truck. If an hour later somebody swipes a license with the same license identification number in a different vehicle, then both employers would receive a message from the shared database indicating that there is a problem. The employers would then be responsible for verifying the true owner of that license identification number. If a license is not registered in the shared database, then the vehicle’s engine will not start.
Additionally, it would prevent people from having a license in more than one state or province. There would be very high monetary fines to any company hiring drivers that do not have the universal license. There would also be very high monetary fines for any driver caught operating a commercial motor vehicle without this universal license. The fines need to be high enough to actually be a deterrent. If it doesn’t hurt their pocketbook, you’re not going to change the way they do things.
Shared Database
I recently had the opportunity to speak with an Arkansas state trooper. During that conversation, I learned that it’s not possible to run a check on a Canadian driver’s license in under 2 hours. There’s no way that a police officer can keep a transport truck pulled over on the side of an interstate for that length of time. He also informed me that it was like that for all Canadian licenses regardless of the province in Canada or the state in the U.S. I would also imagine it would be no different for Canadian police officers trying to run a check on an American driver’s license.
I did clarify with the officer that he would be able to check much quicker for any kind of warrant or criminal record. He verified that it would be very simple to do that however, to check information and verify that a driver’s license is valid, is a completely different thing. Police departments around the world share a global database called Interpol or at least have very quick access to it. This is also true for countries other than Canada and the United States so it really is worldwide.
I find it very disturbing that a state trooper is not able to verify whether or not a driver’s license from a different country is valid. At any given time, the operator of a commercial motor vehicle may be driving with an expired license or one that has been forged. This does nothing to deter people from driving a vehicle they are not trained and/or licensed to drive. In Ontario where I live, the current fine for driving with an improper class of license is $265. That is one day’s pay for a lot of commercial drivers and certainly is not a deterrent to keep them off the road.
I would like to see a shared database between Canada and the United States that would allow any police officer to verify the validity of a commercial license. It should be accessible to all levels of police enforcement be it municipal, state/provincial or federal. This would not be an invasion of privacy in my opinion however it will help in enforcing our traffic laws as well as any criminal laws. I would also like to see Mexico involved with this project as well though I have no knowledge of Mexico’s licensing laws or the way they operate. I don’t imagine it would be any easier for either a Canadian police officer or an American police officer to run a check on a Mexican commercial driver license.
The cost that would be incurred to create this shared database should be split between the countries according to the number of participants estimated from each country. As an example, the United States has 10 times the population of Canada so if the total cost to build this is $100, the United States would pay $90.00 and Canada would pay $10.00. The total cost would easily be recuperated with increased fines for an unlicensed or improper class of license infractions. Additionally, the cost to a commercial driver to renew their license could also be dedicated to the maintenance of this database. Also, see noncompliance penalties.
Mandatory Training
One of the biggest problems we have in the transportation industry today is untrained or under-trained drivers. The cost of going to one of the colleges is significantly higher than any of the smaller commercial driving schools which makes it not affordable to most people looking to enter the transportation industry. Unless students qualify for financial assistance from one of the various government programs, a college is not an option for most people.
I didn’t go to a driving school to get my license when I started in 1999. I simply phoned trucking companies until I found one that was willing to teach me how to drive and I began training their newly licensed drivers before I even had my full license. I feel that I had a much better education going through a trucking company than any of the students that I had at the school where I was employed.
Some major carriers in the United States have their schools such as C.R. England and Mesilla Valley. I believe that these are wonderful programs these companies offer to fill their need for additional drivers. There is no cost to anyone to attend their training programs and job placement is guaranteed. I would like to see more companies offer this however smaller trucking companies can’t afford the resources to do this. In an attempt to address the driver shortage that has existed for more than five decades, perhaps some incentives can be offered to companies who are willing to hire an additional driver trainer and teach those interested in how to drive safely and professionally.
As a student of a driving school, you have very little time spent behind the wheel of a truck. Generally, you only travel on the road test route and one exit on the highway. A trucking company has the equipment that will enable students a great deal more practical experience which will bring with it an increase in understanding and confidence. Those coming out of a driving school still require a great deal of training in the real world. All of this extra training needs to be provided by a trucking company regardless of how that student acquired their license. Having more trucking companies willing and able to train students both before and after they acquire their licenses just makes sense.
I do agree we need better training for students as they go through the process of obtaining a commercial driver’s license. I believe this training needs to come from several places and not just private career colleges and very lax schools. We need an apprenticeship program that can also be offered by trucking companies and private individuals who own their trucks. I also firmly believe that every instructor, regardless of the type of facility they work in, should be required to pass a very strict road test and receive an instructor’s permit before attempting to teach anyone else.
While I was working at a commercial driving school recently, I was in charge of all the road tests. I asked inside the road test facility about an instructor’s license. I was informed that I would have to do all the written and practical tests within one year to obtain this license and was most willing to do that. I was then informed it was only for a car instructor license and there wasn’t a program for a commercial driving instructor license. My question is, why not?
I also believe that many schools take advantage of students and implement policies where failure is not just acceptable, it’s expected. This was the case at the school where I worked. It was not unusual for students to try 5 or 6 times before finally passing their road test. Each unsuccessful attempt brings with it negative feelings and plays on their confidence and self-esteem. It’s frustrating and heartbreaking when you try time after time and still don’t succeed at anything and this is no exception. Schools should have to maintain a greater than 95% first-time pass rate for each class of license. This means that they can’t have a pass rate on smaller vehicles that exceed 95% and a lower pass rate for transport trucks.
I was recently speaking with a newly licensed driver who went through a school in the U.S. and I know it is not much different in parts of Canada. He was telling me about one husband and wife couple attending the same class as he was in. The wife did nothing the whole time. Many times she just sat on the ground while her husband did pre-trips and what have you. I suggested that maybe she didn’t want her license and was being pressured by her husband. I was told that was not the case but regardless, she should never have passed or received her license but she did.
The school had its examiner who pushed everyone through whether they were capable of safely operating a heavy commercial truck or not. This has to stop. By handing her a license, this examiner not only put her at great risk but he is also risking the life of her husband and every other road user out there. Pushing people through just to keep your pass rate up or to provide drivers to companies with their schools is extremely dangerous. Government licensing needs to do surprise road tests periodically on random students. If it is blatantly obvious that someone should never have passed, the examiner needs to be replaced.
Graduated Licensing
I do believe that graduated licensing for professional commercial drivers is necessary. I also feel it’s imperative to give back to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to keeping both our countries moving forward. I don’t consider driving a transport truck to simply be a job. Some get up every morning, go to work and do their job, collect their paycheck at the end of the week, and don’t care about anything else. Then you have people like me who look at this industry in a very different way. This is not my job, it’s my lifestyle. I just happen to get paid to live my life which involves driving a transport truck.
I spent two years as a driving instructor teaching my students how to change their lifestyles to make money simply by living their lives as I do. One of the most difficult things for a newly licensed driver is the hours of service. You simply cannot take someone who passes their road test one day, put them in a transport truck the next, and send them off on the road for two or three weeks. They haven’t learned anywhere near enough to be successful and they certainly don’t know enough to be safe. If they run into trouble, they also have no support close by and lack the confidence or experience to make the safest possible decisions.
I don’t want to call this graduated licensing so I would like it referred to as an apprenticeship which leads to a skilled trade designation. I recommend that for the first 500 hours AND six months, new drivers be restricted to a radius of 60 miles from their home terminal. This way, if they run into trouble, their driver trainer or mentor is less than 1 hour away. They learn how to negotiate different intersections and they learn how to back up. Being a yard jockey would also be an option for the first 500 hours AND six months.
From 501 hours to 1000 hours AND from 6 to 12 months, they would be limited to a radius of 175 miles. This would allow them to get a little highway experience and a little more independence. During the first 12 months of their career, the most important thing is to build confidence. From 1001 hours to 1500 hours AND 12 to 18 months, they would be restricted to a radius of 325 miles from their home terminal. This would allow them to go a greater distance on the highway and still make it home to their bed at night. From 1501 hours to 2000 hours AND 18 to 24 months, they would be restricted to a 500-mile radius from their yard. It would allow them to be gone for one night at a time.
Both the time requirements would need to be met. Simply holding a license for 6 months but never driving, does not advance the stage they are currently in. They would be required to be employed by a reputable company and their hours and length of employment recorded on official cards and computers in the shared database. Records to verify experience would be required before they can advance to the next stage. This is true for any apprenticeship.
After 2000 hours AND two years they wouldn’t have any more restrictions and could drive for as long as they wished provided they operated within the hours of service regulations. At this point, they would have all the confidence in the world to be able to safely and efficiently operate a heavy truck. They will have built up their ability to drive for long periods in degraded weather conditions. They will earn a designation of skilled trades which would bring with it a sense of pride and accomplishment that will carry them through their entire driving career.
Skilled Trades Designation
The transportation industry has gained a very large number of regulations over the past three decades and in many cases, truckers will tell you those regulations have harmed the industry and our ability to earn an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. Each year we bring more restrictions and regulations but we never give back to those who keep us moving. Over the years I’ve watched this industry disintegrate and I’ve watched as drivers have just stopped caring about their careers and in many cases, themselves.
I would like to invite you to go to your nearest truck stop and just sit there for 2 hours. I promise you, it will be a real eye-opening experience if you pay attention to the drivers you see getting in and out of their trucks. It’s much more obvious in the United States than it is in Canada only because you have 13 times the number of professional transport truck drivers in the U.S. than we have here in Canada. One thing you’ll notice immediately is that there are a large number of drivers who look like they could be homeless. They’re unkempt and their clothes look like they haven’t been washed in a month. You’ll wonder if they even know what hot water and soap are used for.
In my city, I contacted one company about a position driving for them and they offered me $16.00 per hour. When I worked for that same company 10 years prior, I was making over $21.00 per hour which was almost three times minimum wage. As you can see our wages have gone down but the cost of living and inflation increase has been the opposite. It costs us more to live and eat but we’re making only a little better than minimum wage now. Many illegal drivers make much less than we do and that helps keep our wages down as well. It’s time we give back to truck drivers and it needs to be done in several ways.
First, we need to recognize that those men and women are professionals. We need a skilled trade designation that comes at the end of a two-year apprenticeship or graduated licensing. We also need federal recognition for milestones such as 1,000,000 miles driven and annual safety awards. Most companies don’t offer these so for the 18 years that I’ve been in this industry personally, I’ve received only two safety pins. Young people today are not going into the transportation industry because we have nothing to offer them. There was a time when every little boy wanted to drive a big truck and although I’m not a boy, I had that same dream. Truckers took pride in their jobs and their appearance, but that’s all changed now. It’s time that we give back that pride and dignity.
Government Funding
This is something that will vary from place to place so I can only speak of my personal experience. Employment Insurance, Welfare, and a program called Second Career will all provide government funding to enable those interested in getting a commercial driver’s license, to do so. Some schools will then charge according to what these programs will pay. Second Career will spend up to $10,000 to enable someone to get a commercial driver’s license, Employment Insurance will pay $4900 and welfare will only pay about $2500. Most schools will create custom packages according to what a student can afford to pay.
Just so you understand, to pass a road test in Ontario, students are required to complete an outside circle check, in-cab circle check, couple and uncouple, drive for 20 minutes which includes one exit on the highway, and then back into a parking space that is 15 feet wide in a controlled parking lot. They are not taught hours of service, logbooks, engine checks, negotiate intersections, tractor suspension, trailer suspension, most of the switches on the dash of the truck, manual transmission, construction zones, or the Highway Traffic Act. Students are taught the exact road test route in most of the schools. Air brake classes are not taught at the school but are done separately by the Ontario Safety League as a two-day weekend course in some cases.
The owners of many of the schools where I worked are of one particular nationality and I’m not saying that this happens with all of this nationality or only with this nationality, however, it is very blatant in the greater Toronto area. To keep the school in business, others from their community have their wives go to different government agencies and request funding to go to that specific school. The minimum amount is paid to the school and the student keeps the rest. These women have absolutely no intention of ever driving a truck. The entire purpose of this is to get the funding to keep the school in business and add to that month’s income for the family. In my opinion, this money is being obtained fraudulently and it’s taking away from others who genuinely want a new career and the ability to support themselves without relying on a government cheque each month. This needs to stop and the way I propose that we do this is addressed under inactive licenses.
As a deterrent to prevent fraudulent applications for government assistance, I would like to see all inactive licensees be required to repay the amount given to them in full to obtain that license. This means that if you get your license and you don’t ever go to work as a commercial vehicle operator, you now owe a debt to the government for the money they gave you to get that license. The total amount could be divided into quarters and each quarter requires six months of employment to erase. So if you never use the license at all, you will be required to repay 100%. If you work for a year and then decide this career is not for you, you will only be required to repay 50%. If you spend two years in the transportation industry as a commercial driver, you won’t be required to repay any of it. This will work hand-in-hand with graduated licensing.
Inactive Licenses
I know from firsthand experience that after long periods of not driving, you begin to lose confidence behind the wheel. The same is true for any professional driver. A truck driver that loses their license because of an illness or is off with an injury, will have a difficult time getting back into the swing of things. When you’re talking about a vehicle that weighs up to 80,000 pounds or more, a lack of confidence behind the wheel makes for a very unsafe adjustment period.
As I mentioned in government assistance, many received their license and don’t ever use it for employment. It’s very easy to hold onto as long as you supply a medical when it’s necessary and do a written test once every few years depending on your age. However, if you have zero experience, to begin with, and never use your license, you should be deemed unfit to operate a commercial motor vehicle. For various reasons, some may choose not to immediately go into the transportation industry once they have passed a road test. It’s not always easy to find a company that’s willing to hire newly licensed drivers because of the insurance costs.
I would like to see commercial licenses downgraded to a car class license after 6 months if the license is not being used for employment purposes. This can be checked and monitored through mandatory electronic computers and the universal commercial license system. To have the license reinstated, you would simply require an application to be filed at the licensing office or even just a phone call requesting that it be reinstated. If the license remains downgraded for an additional three months then I would like to see it suspended. This would require an explanation as to why the license has not been used for employment for nine months. If the license remains inactive commercially for a total of twelve months, then it should be revoked.
Once a commercial license has been revoked for having a year of inactivity through the mandatory electronic computers, the driver should have to pass a new road test demonstrating the ability to safely and knowledgeably operate that vehicle. This will help deter fraudulent applications for funding to obtain a commercial license and help ensure that every professionally driven vehicle on our highways is driven by people who can demonstrate the ability to do so safely. If a license remains inactive for 24 months or more, the license holder should be required to begin the process at the beginning to obtain a commercial license again.
If a driver has two years or more of full-time employment as a commercial driver and their license is downgraded due to a medical issue, the license should be reinstated without the need for a road test. I can’t imagine a driver with 10 years of experience having to do a road test to get their license back if they are cleared medically and can provide proof that it was a medical absence.
Canadian Immigrant Drivers
Over the years that I’ve been in the transportation industry, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many other drivers. I’ve spent a great deal of time in the United States which is primarily where I’ve driven. Quite often, I spend six days a week in the United States working and one night in my bed in Canada. I have also spoken specifically with many Canadian drivers as well so I know that I’m not the only one who would like to relocate to the United States.
Many Canadian truck drivers would jump at the opportunity to live and work in the United States for various reasons. Some of those reasons are health although the health concerns are not something that would interfere with their abilities to perform their job. These health concerns would also not require any extra medical attention or cause these drivers to ever become a public charge. They may be things like severe environmental allergies or arthritis. Both of these conditions would be addressed by moving to an arid desert climate. In my case, it’s a blood circulation issue. The cold causes me an extreme amount of pain so I spend all winter in agony.
I’ve spent the past three years trying to get a visa to live and work in Texas. The temperatures there do not go below freezing and if they do, it’s for a very short period. They also don’t have 3 feet of snow at a time to contend with. I would have no problem whatsoever doing my job in a location that doesn’t get to -30°. Here in Canada however, it’s a different story. The United States has had a driver shortage for more than years than most people realize but Canada does not have the same problem. The bigger companies in Canada like to make it look like we have a driver shortage here, but we truly don’t. The United States has a driver shortage and that shortage is not going to be rectified anytime soon.
If Canadian truck drivers were able to live and work in the United States, we would not be taking jobs away from Americans but we would be helping to ease the strain felt by trucking companies. Your companies are crying for drivers and have trucks parked because they don’t have anyone to operate them I would like you to seriously consider making an amendment to your immigration laws to allow experienced, Canadian citizen, truck drivers to relocate to the United States and obtain work permits. These drivers would be unemployed for a total of 5 minutes. Just long enough for them to walk into the first trucking company, complete a road test and a drug test, and be put to work. At this point in my life, I would much prefer to work on a transportation reform committee and assist in reshaping the industry that I love, to carry us into the future.
CBS Morning News has reported that 50,000 more commercial truckers are needed in the U.S. before the end of 2017. Since this was reported on October 26th, 2017, I don’t think it’s going to happen. It just makes sense to take a good look north to help fill the shortage the U.S. has. The full story can be found here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/america-faces-shortage-truck-drivers/
I know many American drivers would love the opportunity to live and work in Canada. Perhaps a driver swap could be arranged so that neither country would lose drivers and those of us wishing to change countries, could.
Reclassification For Drivers
It’s time to stop the discrimination against truckers and start giving back the things that have been stripped away from us. Nothing that has been taken from us has ever been replaced and no attempt has been made to treat us fairly. This has to stop now and this is just one of the ways of doing that.
Truckers are professional drivers but we are only one kind of professional driver. There are millions of professional drivers on our roads every day and we are very literally the driving force behind everything. From our economy to medical care, affordable housing, education, agriculture, and so on. There is not a single industry that does not rely on the transportation industry to fuel it.
Somehow it has become acceptable over the years for truckers to be discriminated against while every other professional driver has avoided the suffocating regulations we have had heaped upon us. It’s time to even the playing field so to speak and reclassify exactly what a professional driver is.
Uber drivers don’t seem to have to abide by any laws and I suppose it is because they are something new. However, they are still professional drivers. I met an electrician who quit his job and went to drive for Uber full-time because he made more money. He informed me that he spends 16 hours a day in his car and more if there are special events taking place in his city.
Whether you drive a transport truck, Uber car, school bus, courier van, dump truck, or a truck full of stage equipment for some rock star, you should have to abide by the same laws. We are all out there doing the same job and we should all be treated the same as any other professional driver. Do you realize that many of these vehicles can be driven by a 16-year-old with a beginner permit? In some places, 15-year-old children can receive their beginner permit because of the length of time it takes to get to their road test.
Why are we in a hurry to license any driver let alone one that is just 16 years old? Maybe this is part of the problem that increases the loss of life on our roads. There is no reason anyone should be rushing to get a license. They should be taking the time to learn properly and gain some experience before a full license is issued.
There are very large and heavy vehicles used for private purposes that are also not regulated the same as other vehicles of the same size and weight because they are not for hire. A personal motorcoach pulling a trailer or car can weigh up to 65,000 lbs which is more than some auto parts loads in an 18-wheeler. At the very least, drivers of these vehicles should be fully licensed, over 21 years of age, and hold a combination vehicle license regardless of the type of brakes that vehicle has.
CHANGES:
Any person who drives any vehicle for 51% or more of their workday needs to be classified as a professional driver.
Any vehicle that’s driven by a professional driver, whether for hire or private, needs to be classified as a professional vehicle.
Vehicles over 16,000 lbs, for hire or private, need to have a higher class of license than cars and drivers must be over 21 years of age.
All combination vehicles, for hire or private, need to have a combination vehicle license and the driver needs to be over 21 years of age.
RESULTS:
This will help reduce the loss of life on our highways, interstates, and city streets. It will ensure that all drivers are treated the same and all vehicles are also treated the same. We also need enforcement officers to check the driver’s licenses of those operating these vehicles.
In Ontario where I live, it is a $265.00 fine if I get behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler with only a car license. I drove a transport truck for 5 years before anyone asked to see my license at a scale house. This fine amount is not a deterrent and needs to be raised much higher to prevent those not legally licensed to operate larger vehicles or combination vehicles from driving them. We also need more enforcement officers checking licenses on all vehicles, not just transport trucks. The higher fines will pay the wages for new officers to be added.
Reclassification For Vehicles
When we look at the regulations governing commercial vehicles, I have to ask why they don’t apply to all commercial vehicles. Transport trucks are only one type of commercial vehicle and there are many other types. The laws should pertain to every commercial vehicle regardless of its size or class. We need to bring about changes that then will reflect every kind of commercial vehicle on our roads.
This needs to include smaller trucks such as dump trucks or delivery trucks and it also needs to include buses of every length. Now, these commercial vehicles are generally recognized as being commercial vehicles and having the same licensing and operating requirements as transport trucks however, they are by no means the only other commercial vehicles.
Any vehicle that is used in a work capacity, needs to be classified as a professionally driven vehicle. This includes taxi cabs, courier vans, pickup trucks, minivans, and regular cars if they are used for commercial purposes such as Uber. A maid service uses a small compact car but that car is still used commercially. It should fall under the same guidelines and regulations as a transport truck.
Commercial vehicles are not permitted in the far left lane on a six-lane highway in many locations. There are several restrictions put in place on commercial vehicles that only apply to specific commercial vehicles. This needs to include all commercial vehicles not just transport trucks. It’s time we equalize the playing field and the only exceptions to this should be first responder vehicles. Police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, emergency response units for chemical spills, and supporting vehicles need to be exempt. Military vehicles also need to be exempt.
Hours Of Service Simplified
Years ago, I’m sure that there was a very good reason to differentiate the time spent in a sleeper berth and off-duty time. Today, I honestly don’t see why it needs to be recorded differently. With mandatory electronic computers, it will become obsolete. It doesn’t make any difference if we sleep in our truck, in a hotel room, or the comfort of our bed at home. My first recommendation is to get rid of the sleeper berth as I feel this is no longer relevant.
When I mentioned this to the Federal Minister of Transportation for Canada, The Honourable Marc Garneau, P.C., M.P., he responded with “You suggest that it does not make a difference if you sleep in a berth, a hotel room, or at home. I should explain that the sleeper berth requirements are there to provide flexibility to drivers so that they can use a berth to split the required daily off-duty period. This flexibility is rather important for the trucking industry. Furthermore, there is a solid body of scientific evidence showing that sleep quality is not the same in a berth as opposed to a bedroom or a hotel room. As you are aware, poor sleep quality is a significant predictor of driver fatigue, and this is why sleeper berth usage needs to be carefully regulated.”
After this response was sent to me, I started thinking more in-depth about his response. I was pulled into a scale house just a couple of weeks ago and decided to ask about this. I was not aware that split sleeper time was even still part of the Hours of Service for Canada. I asked the inspector about them and he couldn’t explain to me how it works. He went searching for some pamphlet that he never did find however, the inspector sitting behind him did respond. He said most drivers do not use split sleeper hours because they don’t understand them and most often wind up being fined for Hours of Service violations.
In terms of quality of sleep, for every driver you show me that sleeps better at home, I can show you another driver that sleeps better in their truck. We all have things that affect the way we sleep and of course, the noise from a diesel engine, too many of us, will affect the quality of sleep. Trucks have progressed significantly over the years and are much quieter. We have APU units for temperature control making it much more comfortable for sleeping. Some drivers will only park on off-ramps or on-ramps reducing the risk of being woken by some inconsiderate driver using his air horn in a truck stop.
I spend 5 or 6 nights a week in my truck and 1 or 2 in my house. I am not used to my house and it makes strange noises I am not used to. Some drivers don’t even have a house or apartment and live entirely in their trucks. Some drivers have newborn babies at home or elderly parents that they care for. These things almost guarantee the driver is woken during the night. Having a quick nap in the middle of the afternoon is very common for some drivers even if they are home every night. For those of us who are not home every night, our trucks are providing us with a better quality of sleep. Just imagine the U.S. drivers who spend months away from home.
Now I would like to point out that it was mentioned above that sleeper berth time needed to be carefully regulated. Our government has discriminated against us for so long that they don’t even realize they are doing it anymore. What other profession does our government carefully regulate the quality of sleep for its workers? Does the sleep quality of electricians get regulated? What about the mechanic who works on your car’s brakes, is he regulated? How about a surgeon? Does our government carefully regulate the quality of sleep of those who very literally hold the life of their patients in their hands on an operating table? I think not. I have not been able to find a single profession, of any kind, that our government carefully, or otherwise, regulates the quality of sleep for. Again, I say that the sleeper berth needs to be removed from our logs. We are either on duty or off duty.
Additionally, you do not regulate our quality of sleep so your response doesn’t fit your narrative, Sir. There are no regulations stating that we may only sleep in our trucks so many days/nights each month. There are no regulations stating that we must spend so many days/nights in a stationary location like a motel or our home if we have one. You do not regulate our quality of sleep and quite frankly, that would be impossible unless you require us to plug ourselves into some sleep machine when we go to sleep. When you did your sleep studies, did you use brand-new drivers or seasoned veterans? That would make a huge difference.
Now let’s look at what is accurate. When I first started driving way back in the dinosaur days, our trucks were vastly different than they are today. Our engines were so loud that we couldn’t hear a siren on our back bumper even with the window down and the radios turned off. Today, even with our radio on and the windows up, we can hear sirens 6 blocks away. Your research and study documents are old, outdated, and irrelevant. Let’s keep an open mind instead of just stepping all over us and using us to wipe your feet again.
Over the years there have been many changes to our hours of service regulations and they’ve become very restrictive and very complicated. There should be only two duty status options. On duty and off duty. Off-duty should be. I believe it’s time that Canada and the United States have universal hours of service requirements and the same regulations that govern it.
I would like to see a standard 14-hour shift. This means from the start of their workday until the end of their workday, they cannot exceed 14 hours. This will include one 30-minute break that must be taken within the first 8 hours of their shift, 30 minutes for a pre-trip and 15 minutes for a post-trip inspection. This is already partly the regulation that is in place for Canada and the U.S. Some companies push drivers so much that the only way they’re able to eat is behind the wheel as they are driving which is not a safe practice.
The 14-hour shift then becomes 12 3/4 allowing for the 30-minute break and inspections. I would like to see a maximum of 12 hours of drive time leaving 45 minutes hours for stops along the way, fueling the truck, border crossings if applicable, loading and offloading the trailer, or drop and hook. This is an increase in the United States of 1 hour of drive time and a decrease in Canada of 1 hour of drive time. I believe that this will be a happy medium and no one should have to work more than 14 hours a day to make a living. Out of a 24-hour day, this leaves 10 hours of off-duty time which can realistically be considered travel time to and from work, a shower, and 8 hours of sleep. I understand some team drivers may be better with split sleeping shifts but it still needs to be within the 14 hours according to the 14-hour rule currently in place. Perhaps team set-ups need to be revised differently allowing more flexibility. I need more information on this and would like to hear from team drivers who split sleep time.
I believe that we need to stick with 70 hours in seven days and make that the only option. Following 70 hours of on-duty time for the week, we need 36 hours consecutively off duty. These are the current regulations for both Canadian and American drivers that cross the border and I believe that they work very well. These are the only regulations that we need for hours of service and all others should be eliminated. The only thing not addressed then would be personal conveyance. We need to have this the same in both countries to make it easy for drivers to understand. This should be bobtail only, without a trailer, and for a distance of not more than 45 miles. This still allows for 8 hours of sleep but I can’t imagine any driver using the fuel to travel that distance in a transport truck daily. Perhaps it can be a restriction of once or twice a week instead of daily.
I want to hear from you though. If you are a team driver, I admit I don’t know the first thing about how you run. Please contact me and tell me how you want the hours of service, even if you are a solo driver. I’m sure we can all agree that the hours of service are overly complicated, old, outdated, now irrelevant, and need to be simplified. Let’s all work together to find the best possible solution for everyone.
Speed Limiters
Here in Ontario, Canada, we were recently hit with new regulations governing the speed of transport trucks to 105 kph or 65 mph. I feel that this is very discriminating since it was only implemented in Ontario and nowhere else. I do understand it’s a provincial law. Also, it was only put in place for transport trucks and not any other kind of professionally driven vehicle.
You can’t decrease the abilities of one group of people and not decrease the abilities of another group of people for whatever reason you felt it was necessary to do this. All commercial motor vehicles need to be addressed equally. This includes buses, taxis, courier vans, smaller trucks such as dump trucks, shuttle buses, and all other vehicles used commercially.
If you’re going to limit the speed of transport trucks, you need to limit all commercial vehicles regardless of where they’re plated. It should be done on a federal level. This also needs to be universal but I can promise you that 65 mph is nowhere close to adequate. I do understand that the maximum speed limit anywhere in Canada is 110 kph so your idea of 105 kph guarantees highway speeds will not be exceeded. However, there are a large number of transport trucks plated in Ontario that cross the border. The speed limit in Texas is at 80 mph. When you’re trying to get up a mountain with a top speed of 65 mph, by the time you get to the top you’re doing about 30 miles per hour. That is less than half the posted speed limit and makes it very dangerous for other road users traveling much faster coming up behind you.
The biggest problem we have doesn’t come from speeding trucks, it comes from speeding cars and motorcycles. Drag racing originated with cars, not transport trucks. If you’re going to put speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles, you need to put a speed limit on all motorized vehicles. There is no reason in this world why any car or motorcycle should be able to travel at 200 miles per hour. I would like to see speed limiters put on every motorized vehicle except for first responders, military, and drag racers. To clarify first responders, including fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, and other government-owned support vehicles are used for emergencies.
There are many people out there who use their street vehicles to drag race on the weekends. They also spend a lot of money on extra insurance to do this. A special permit would be needed for any vehicle that exceeds the regulated limited speed. I would like to see all cars limited to a maximum of 90 mph, all motorcycles limited to a maximum speed of 90 mph, and all commercial vehicles, not just transport trucks, limited to a speed of 75 mph. If you are not going to put speed limiters on every motorized vehicle, you should not be putting them on any.
Border Crossings
The busiest border crossing in North America is the Ambassador Bridge which connects Detroit, Michigan to Windsor, Ontario. When going into the United States, every booth of the United States customs is open. Border patrol officers work at different speeds depending on how long the lineups are. Sometimes you can stand and watch as the trucks go through one right after another. At other times, each truck takes 3, 5, or 10 minutes at the booth.
Coming into Canada is a different story. Even with lineups, all the way across the bridge and down I-75, only four or five customs booths are open. I have personally sat for over 2 hours at 2:30 AM to re-enter Canada. Of course, there are all kinds of stories circulating among the drivers as to why there is such a delay coming into Canada. The most believable one is that the supervisor at this location doesn’t want to increase her staff level because traffic patterns fluctuate so much. The bottom line is, that we outgrew the capacity of this border crossing 20 years ago. When I first got my license there was talk of using the CP Rail Lines as an alternative crossing for commercial vehicles. Absolutely nothing has been done in 20 years to alleviate the excessive delays at this crossing.
The universal license can replace the need to carry passports and visas with all of the necessary information coming up at the customs booth simply by swiping the license. It would eliminate the need for drivers to go inside customs or immigration and make it much faster to get through border crossings or immigration checkpoints. This is only one border crossing and I’m sure many have very long lineups. We need to streamline border crossings to get drivers on their way much faster.
If we do everything possible to ensure the universal license can not be duplicated or created fraudulently, we shouldn’t need any other programs in place to clear people. I understand we have the FAST program however not all companies are FAST-approved. Even if a company is FAST-approved, not all loads are FAST-approved. This is a program implemented by U.S. customs that Canada has agreed to participate in. Canada has its program called CDRP which the U.S. refuses to accept. The universal license will ensure that the driver has done all of what is required to ensure border crossing is done in a much more timely fashion.
We do have drivers who do not cross the border for whatever reason. The universal license swipe at the customs booth will indicate whether or not that person is approved to cross the border. All drivers, regardless of their destination, need to have a universal license but we also need to ensure that only those who can cross the border legally, are permitted across. For those who cross with a passport, their license is never seen by border patrol officers so there is no way to know if they are even legal to drive that vehicle.
Another fact to keep in mind is that not all border crossings are the same. Once you get outside of Ontario, crossing the border is a very different process. There are locations where you pull up to a booth, shut your truck off, pick up a phone and a customs officer shows up sometime later. This is very lax compared to the very strict crossing procedures of Ontario.
Crossing into the U.S. in Windsor, you are not permitted to have a dashcam that is currently turned on but all other border crossings allow them. Even the duty-free shops are different. At the Ambassador Bridge you are required to provide your license plate number for purchases but only provide your postal or zip code at the Peace Bridge.
These differences tell me that border crossing procedures are not the same across the country. They are not even the same within a single province or state. How can we ensure our countries are safe if we can’t even have uniform procedures in place across the country?
Homeland Security
With the implementation of the new universal commercial driver’s license program, a large database shared between Canada and the United States is necessary. This database can hold a lot of information about a driver’s citizenship, date of birth, driver’s license number, visa information if applicable, and any other information that may be required to ensure the safety of our highways and also of our countries.
When crossing the border between Canada and the United States, the only document that currently needs to be presented is a passport. There is no way for the border patrol officer to know whether or not that person is legally licensed to operate that vehicle which may indicate the vehicle was stolen and is being used for very bad reasons. Border patrol officers do not ask for your driver’s license unless you use an enhanced license instead of a passport. Very few states and provinces offer the enhanced license. To receive an enhanced license, proof of citizenship must be presented along with the application. Because it is your driver’s license, it also has your photograph on it.
The universal commercial license will also have the same requirements to obtain. Proof of citizenship and lawful residency along with your birth certificate will need to be presented. This will then become the only document required to cross the border. Drivers will no longer have to carry a passport and will simply use their new universal commercial license. Border patrol officers will be able to see the date that a visa started and the expiration date. Those who are not either Canadian or American citizens will still need their passport stamped to begin a new visa period but will not need to carry it with them at all times.
With the new universal commercial license, law enforcement, and border patrol officers will know exactly who they’re dealing with very quickly with the help of the shared database. This will make border crossings much faster for commercial drivers and much more secure for homeland security in both countries. We will have eliminated phony and duplicate licenses so the chances of anything being presented to a border patrol officer that is not actual and factual, will be almost nonexistent. The highway scanners that I mentioned in the roadside scales and scanners section, can also be set up at border crossings. This will help ensure that all commercial vehicles crossing the border have the mandatory electronic computer activated and that the universal commercial license has been swiped to start the engine of the truck. It will also ensure the person operating that vehicle is legally able to do so and that the vehicle has not been stolen and used for terrorist activities.
Drug & Alcohol Testing
To my understanding, drug and alcohol testing is completed primarily at the pre-employment stage in both Canada and the United States. I have spoken with several Canadian-only drivers who have informed me that they were not required to do random drug tests throughout their employment as long as they didn’t cross the border. A few years ago my truck was used by another driver at my company while I was off duty. The next day I was cleaning the dash of my truck and I found a marijuana joint underneath my CB. Needless to say, I was more than a little upset since I was crossing the border every day.
When I complained to my dispatcher about this, I was told that it was a Canadian-only driver but they would do a drug test just to be sure. Absolutely nothing was done about it and now that there’s so much talk of decriminalizing marijuana, this is something that needs to be re-evaluated. If there is not currently a Canadian law that requires all professional drivers, again not just transport trucks, from random drug and alcohol tests throughout their entire driving career, we need to make one whether a driver crosses the border or not. The same is true for the United States if American drivers, who do not cross the border, are not subjected to random drug and alcohol testing throughout their careers.
Pre-employment drug tests are necessary for all professionally driven vehicles regardless of the class of vehicle it is. After their initial start date, their name should be placed into a pool along with other commercial drivers. Once per month, several names would be randomly drawn from that pool and each of those drivers should be required to take a drug and alcohol test before their next shift at work. If they do not pass that test, they should be grounded until they can successfully pass a test. This needs to be done regardless of whether or not they cross any international borders.
There isn’t much more that can be said on the subject. We have to do everything we possibly can to reduce the loss of lives on our interstates and highways. We need to utilize every tool available to us to ensure we protect the safety of other road users. This is not optional.
Mandatory Electronic Logs
There’s been a lot of talk about mandatory electronic logs and I know that we’re heading in that exact direction. I don’t feel that our current computers or the set-up that’s available to trucking companies now is adequate. We need computers that are capable of reading the information in the magnetic stripe of a driver’s license. They should also be equipped with a relay sensor that can communicate with scale houses and highway scanners to ensure that each truck contains an electronic log computer that’s been activated.
So first we need a universal driver’s license which I have addressed on another page of this project. The way it should work is, that each driver must scan their universal commercial driver’s license into the mandatory electronic computer of the truck for the engine to start. If that person does not have one of the universal commercial driver licenses, or if it has been suspended or revoked, the truck will not start and cannot be driven by that person. This will prevent untrained and illegal drivers from being on our roads. It will also ensure that legally licensed drivers only have one license. The days of people having two different licenses from two different states or provinces will be put behind us. Stealing a truck will be impossible without the proper license to start the engine thus ensuring we are doing everything possible to prevent our trucks from being used for terrorist attacks or other illegal activity.
It also ensures that any unique universal commercial license identification number cannot be used for more than one driver. With the hours of service simplified, it will be very easy for drivers to know exactly how many hours they may continue to drive for the day of the week. It should also keep track of the number of miles that a driver has driven in any truck throughout their career. I believe that all hard work should be recognized and when a driver achieves 1,000,000 miles in their career, they deserve recognition for reaching this milestone. We’ll talk about this more on the apprenticeship page of this project.
With the implementation of mandatory electronic computers, running double logbooks and popping pills to stay awake will be eliminated. It also records pre-trip inspections, GPS location tracking, and mechanical defects and is an excellent communication tool for dispatchers and other support staff. All of these features need to remain in the mandatory electronic computers. So in short, all we’re doing is adding the ability to swipe a license and communicate with the shared database for the universal commercial driver license program and adding a relay system to communicate with highway scanners.
C.B. Radios
When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, everyone and their brother had a C.B. in their car. Everyone wanted to talk to the truckers on channel 19 and to each other. There was rarely a truck that didn’t have a C.B. in it. It was our way of being able to communicate with other drivers and the community around us.
If you had a flat tire, you just keyed up the mic and a trucker would stop and help get you on your way again. If you were lost, there was a trucker with a map book to point you in the right direction. If you had a long way to go and just wanted someone to talk to throughout the night, we were there. You simply had to ask and we would answer.
Technology has changed over the years and people now have auto clubs for flat tires, GPS systems for directions, and cell phones to call people they know if they just need someone to talk to. Indeed, the general public does not rely on truckers the way they used to, so have C.B.s become obsolete?
I will not drive a truck without one. There is talk in Ontario about banning C.B. radios as part of eliminating distractions while driving and I am here to tell you to leave my C.B. alone. C.B.s save lives and your GPS or cell phone can’t do what a C.B. can do. I don’t care what brand you have or how much you pay for it, it will not replace my precious C.B. radio so please don’t even try.
Here is how C.B.s save lives:
My GPS is great at telling me there is a potential hazard ahead of me 5 minutes AFTER I stop my truck at the end of the backup. If there is a multi-vehicle pile-up around the next blind bend, my GPS will not know it is there until several minutes after it happens and I will be cruising along at possibly 80 mph. Another trucker going in the opposite direction can call out on the C.B. warning me to slow down. This will prevent me from crashing into that pile-up and possibly killing anyone in my path.
We have all seen multi-vehicle pile-ups. People are getting out of their vehicles and staggering around on the road dazed and confused. There are children in car seats still trapped in the back seats and elderly people just trying to find an explanation for what just happened. Now imagine an 80,000-pound truck plowing into it because the driver had no idea it was there. Fatalities would rise significantly.
This risk is something we live with every day of our driving careers. I pray there never comes a day that I have to lay my head on my pillow at night knowing I caused someone else to lose their life. I don’t ever want to face the wife and children of the man I killed because I had no idea that accident was there. I don’t want to face the parents of a child who was killed in the back seat of the car because I came barreling into it around that blind bend. I would have to live with that for the rest of my life and would never drive again.
It’s not just multi-vehicle pile-ups around blind bends though. It is also the fact that we can help. If your car catches on fire, I have a fire extinguisher right beside my seat. All commercial vehicles are required to have one and it would simply take a trucker traveling in the opposite direction to call out on the C.B. and tell me someone needs help in front of me. My GPS can’t tell me that and that other driver has no idea what my cell phone number is. The only way to tell me you need help is via my C.B.
Accidents, fires, people on the road or shoulder of the road, road closures, construction, and many other everyday hazards can’t be communicated any other way than by using a C.B. radio. It is a vital piece of communication that many of us still rely on but let’s look at other facts about these timeless and necessary devices.
Everyone has a place in their vehicle where they set their phone while driving. I put mine in a cup holder close to me. Think about where you put your phone. Is it in a bracket or cradle? In a cubby or shelf on your dash? In the cup holder or console between the seats? Wherever you put it, think about what happens if you get into an accident. Everything not nailed down goes flying and could land anywhere including hitting your head. Now imagine trying to phone 911 while your cell phone is under the seat, on the other side of your vehicle or maybe it went out the window on impact. Even if you find your phone, can you reach it? Can you see to use it or is there blood in your eyes? How do you call for help?
Even if I flip my truck and am so confused I don’t know which way is up, I know where my C.B. is. Even if I am trapped by my seat belt and can’t move, I can reach my C.B. Even if I can’t see a single thing, I can use my C.B. and I can get the help I need. My mic is attached to the C.B. using a cord so I just have to lift my arm, feel the C.B. and I will find the mic.
A trucker going in the opposite direction can shout out to those coming behind me. At the very least they can slow traffic down to prevent any future injuries or loss of life. However here is something else for you to think out. Studies have proven beyond a doubt that the first few minutes after an accident are vital. Many people worsen or die waiting for help to arrive on the scene. Rural areas are especially bad and it can take 15 minutes or a great deal more for any help to arrive. Instead of banning C.B.s make them mandatory. Then offer free emergency first aid to truckers who are interested. We can save lives that will otherwise be lost. We can be on the scene of an accident in just the very short time it takes to stop our trucks and we can help until paramedics arrive. Not all drivers will be interested in doing this however, many will.
C.B.s are also still used by many large shippers and receivers. They have a designated channel for security and to get in touch with their yard jockeys. This reduces time and the need for people to wander around looking for trailers, alerting security to potential problems, and communicating other useful information, and in bad weather, it is so much nicer to have.
As I have already mentioned, I don’t have to see my C.B. to use it so I am not distracted doing so. My eyes never leave the road which is not true for GPS and cell phones. A C.B. is the only device that allows you to talk to strangers which is vital at times. It is also the only device that has instantaneous updates. There is no reason at all to ban them from our trucks but millions of reasons to make them mandatory. They are called people and every day people lose their lives because they didn’t get the help they needed fast enough to keep them alive.
I will never drive a truck that doesn’t have a C.B. I rely on it to get me the information I need so I can rest my head at night feeling good about my day. I use them to get information out to others that could potentially save a life and sometimes, it’s just nice to have someone else to talk to as you spend up to 14 hours a day on the road. Some strangers are best friends waiting to happen.
Auto Insurance
I will admit that keeping up with the auto insurance industry has never been something I have been concerned with. I do know that it has changed drastically over the years. I recently added my youngest son and the car I bought for him which caused my monthly insurance to go from $165.00 a month to $720.00 a month. Now let’s look at this. It wasn’t a half-million-dollar car I bought him and although he has never had insurance before, it is a ridiculous amount to expect anyone to pay.
Let’s go back a bit first. When I first received my commercial driver’s license, I called my insurance company. When I informed my agent that I had upgraded my license, he replied “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that”. Excuse me? He informed me that if the insurance company knew that I upgraded my license, my premium would increase.
Now let’s put this into perspective. You’re telling me that with extra safe driver training and a huge amount of increased experience, I would be required to pay more than your average car driver? Why is that? This seems very backward to me. How can you even justify something like this?
I currently hold an ABM2Z license. The A part is a combination vehicle. This includes every size and weight of truck up to and including 2 trailers at once. I spent months at a trucking company driving every day delivering loads and crossing the border to receive this license. I did not go to a school with limited hours spent behind the wheel and classroom time. I was gaining valuable experience of up to 15 hours per day. I earned this license and have held it for more than 18 accident-free years and over 1 million miles.
The B part of my license I added a few years ago. It is what’s required for a school bus and includes all smaller size buses including a charter bus. To earn this license, I had to do a mandatory Professional Driver Improvement course and allow the government to do background checks including a criminal record search.
The M2 part of my license is halfway through the graduated licensing for a motorcycle. I am currently 1 road test away from every possible license class in Ontario, Canada.
The Z part of my license is my air brake endorsement allowing me to operate vehicles with air brakes. This I have held for more than 18 accident-free years and well over 1 million miles driven.
With my training and experience, I can legally operate every class of license but cannot teach yet as a motorcycle. I have not only operated every other size and class of vehicle, but I have also taught them. This includes emergency vehicles such as an ambulance or firetruck.
Now with more than 25 years of experience and over 1.5 million safe, accident-free miles under my belt, why would I be expected to pay more than someone who has maybe driven 60,000 miles or so in this same amount of time? It doesn’t make any sense at all and it needs to change.
Professional drivers with a great deal more experience and training don’t just deserve lower insurance rates, we have earned them. I would like to see our governments lobby FOR us and force insurance companies to reduce premiums significantly for professional drivers based on our knowledge, years of experience, and safe operation of professionally driven vehicles.
Workspace Designation
With all the anti-smoking laws that have come into effect over the past couple of decades or so, legislation was passed declaring our trucks to be designated as workspaces. I fully understand the reasoning behind this when it comes to company drivers who share trucks with co-workers. My oldest son does not smoke and has a terrible time when he has to spend all day in a truck that reeks of cigarette smoke.
My single biggest complaint when l have worked for some companies has been having to share equipment. It’s not just smokers but also company drivers that leave trucks filthy and damaged. The majority of company drivers just don’t care about the trucks and make no effort to keep them clean for the next person who has to use them. Being forced to drive these trucks is enough for me to quit a job, however, these are slip-seat drivers.
What about those of us who have dedicated trucks? How about owner-operators? When it comes to anti-smoking laws, they just don’t work very well. Truckers are not going to stop every hour or 2 to have a smoke but that isn’t even the reason I am writing this page.
I just went to Google which is my source for everything. I used to call one of my sons but they conspired against me and started telling me that Google is my best friend. They forced me to learn how to use it to find the information I needed instead of calling them at all hours of the day and night. The results have been awesome for me but now I can write about anything so the joke’s on them.
So I just went to Google and typed in murdered truckers. I wish I hadn’t done that now. It was heartbreaking to see all those stories come up. They were my brothers. I may not have ever met them, I may not have ever even talked to them but they were my brothers. The number of different news stories that came up, well I had to stop and leave my computer.
On August 8th, 2017, my brother Keith Odom, 49, of Jonesborough, Tennessee, was robbed and shot at about 8 a.m. while trying to fix his tire.
On August 24th, 2017, my 2 brothers were shot in Cleveland Ohio. Police said a 52-year-old truck driver was shot while parked at Gateway Warehouses. He was taken to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds to his legs and was listed in critical condition. Then about 24 hours later, at 4:15 a.m., also on the east side, another shooting was reported involving a truck driver on Finney Avenue. According to police, a 61-year-old man was shot in the chest.
On September 6th, 2017 my brother Ernest D. Kummer of Monroe, Iowa was found shot in a rest area on the interstate and sadly, passed away.
On September 18th, 2017, my brother James Womack of Omaha was shot and killed during an incident of road rage. He was only 32 years old.
That’s 5 of my brothers who were shot in 6 weeks that came up without any real effort on my part in searching on Google. I’m sure there are others if I put some real effort into searching but I believe I have made my point. Now add to this the fact that the U.S. Department of Labour has reported over 500 truckers have been murdered over the past 10 years just trying to do their jobs. This does not include the number of truckers that have been shot, stabbed, choked, beaten, run off the road, or otherwise seriously injured and survived.
Driving a truck is the most hazardous occupation in the United States, according to the government’s latest workplace fatality census, which also said highway accidents were the leading cause of deaths of workers in all lines of work. Then when you add the number of murdered and attempted murders of truckers, you should begin to understand there is a very real need to change the current laws restricting us from protecting ourselves.
In the United States, it is legal to carry a firearm in most places though not legal to have one in your truck or carry one across state lines. In Canada, we are not permitted firearms or even pepper spray to protect ourselves.
When I was young we were taught that the definition of the word government was “by the people, for the people” but you are failing my brothers and sisters and we are all people too. If you will not allow us to protect ourselves, how do you plan to protect us? If you cannot, or will not, protect us, you HAVE to allow us to protect ourselves.
It’s time to re-designate dedicated trucks and owner-operator trucks as residential. We spend weeks or months at a time in our trucks and they are our homes. Many truckers do not have houses or apartments and instead live only in their trucks. It’s also time to allow Canadian truckers to have the ability to protect themselves while out on the highways and interstates.
Our world, and our countries, have become much more violent and certainly a lot less safe for all of us. We already have the most dangerous job but we are also becoming a favourite target for criminals and activist groups. You either have to find a way to protect us while we do our job or allow us to protect ourselves.
Non-Commercial Training
One extremely dangerous thing that car drivers do is cut in front of transport trucks and then apply their breaks. This can be done as road rage or simply out of impatience and ignorance. It’s one of the leading causes of transport truck accidents today. There is a very simple solution to ensure this practice becomes a thing of the past. Car drivers need to be better educated when it comes to heavy trucks and motorcycles as well.
Car drivers need to be taught the weight of vehicles and also the stopping distance of a transport truck. I would love to see this done as recursive training for all licensed drivers. If you’re not familiar with the stopping distance of a truck, I’ll give you an example:
If we take a 35,000-pound truck traveling at 30 mph, it takes 50 feet to safely stop. If we double the weight to 70,000 lbs and travel at 30 mph, we double the distance required to safely stop to 100 feet.
If we take our 35,000 lbs truck to a highway and double the speed to 60 mph, it takes four times the distance to safely stop or 200 feet. If we take our loaded truck of 70,000 lbs to the highway and travel at 60 mph, we’re doubling the weight and speed so we need eight times the distance, or 400 feet to safely stop this truck.
This is true for any 18 wheeler however, the more axles the trailer has, the more weight that can be carried on that trailer. Each time we double the weight of the truck we also have to double the stopping distance. Each time we double the speed it’s 4 times the distance, double the weight and speed require 8 times the distance to safely stop the truck.
As I mentioned above I would also like to see new car drivers taught about motorcycle safety as well. We all need to share the road and a little training will reduce the loss of lives on our highways and interstates.
Non-Compliance Penalties
The current penalty for operating a commercial vehicle with an improper license class in Ontario is a fine of $265. I understand this varies from place to place however it is not a deterrent of any kind. Most drivers make this much in a day or two. I drove for 5 years before I was asked to produce my license for anyone other than my employer.
One of the things we need to look at is taking the illegal drivers off the road. An illegal driver may be a person who is not legally able to be in the country, not legally able to work in the country, has not received proper training, or their license could be suspended or revoked. There are many reasons why somebody may not legally be able to operate a commercial motor vehicle but we do need to take all of those drivers off our highways to ensure the safety of all motorists.
There needs to be huge fines that will be a deterrent to anyone who breaks this law. Anyone who operates a commercial motor vehicle without a valid license to do so needs to know that we are not playing games anymore. For an individual, I would like to see a fine of not less than $5000. It should also come with a mandatory day in court and I believe that with the higher fine amounts, people will think twice before they get behind the wheel of a truck if they’re not legally licensed to do so for a second time.
Any company hiring an unlicensed or illegally licensed commercial driver needs to be hit hard enough to make it hurt. I would like to see a fine of not less than $25,000 for the first offense. We have some very large trucking companies in Canada and the United States, $25,000 would not be a problem for most of them. However, on the second offense, the second time any illegal driver is caught for that company, it would cost them $50,000. The third offense, if they are foolish enough to continue this practice, should be $100,000 and would include other federal penalties we can impose. That may be points on their C.V.O.R., a restriction on their business, their running rights for specific states, or anything else that we can legally do to them to deter them from hiring illegal drivers.
They would be responsible for ensuring that any driver they hire is legally able to operate a commercial motor vehicle in Canada and/or the United States. With mandatory electronic computers and universal commercial licenses, it should be very easy for any company to determine whether the license presented to them by a potential employee is valid or not. There will be no excuses accepted for hiring drivers who should not be on our highways.
Driver Wages
***coming next***
coming soon
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