Class 1 Driver's Lic

[helmsdale]

Farma, to your first reply to this thread:

Can there ever be too much road safety? No... in an ideal world everyone would pay attention and operate their vehicle in a safe and responsible manner. There can most certainly be too much regulation, but the new rules might be striking an *appropriate* balance. 125 hours of instruction is probably a respectable starting point, but honestly I've got over 20,000 hours just on my current rig not counting the numerous ones before, and honest to god, I'm still LEARNING!

As to the "nationalities" of some of the drivers, I can honestly say i've seen every race, color, and creed, that in my eye are nothing more than "seat warmers", or "two feet and a heartbeat". I've known many an "experienced" driver that can't back something up to save their ass, blow stop signs in high range, overload horribly, mow ditch grass, or write a unit off completely. I remember sitting in Sicamous BC killing time till i could unload the next day and an Indian(dots not feathers) pulling with Bison pinned onto a trailer that had been dropped in the parking lot by another driver. I've never seen a more thorough pre-trip done be someone in my entire life. Got out and B.S'd with him as he was filling out his paperwork, and he told me it's his ass on the line if something goes wrong between the time he pins on and the time he drops the dolly legs at its destination, so he might as well do it right!

One other observation on the nationalities thing though... I've seen in my years, that there is a misuse of "Canadian good nature" by some of the nationalities that come to mind with the trucking business. DOT's are not as likely to be as hard on them in my experience when they feign an inability to properly converse in English. Most certainly doesn't fly south of the 49th. I've personally witnessed many that try to "play dumb", with American DOT's. Doesnt end well for them. I watched one DOT at the Sage weigh scale north of Idaho Falls verbally undress two fellas, and in no uncertain terms told them they could answer his questions in english, or they could get a court ordered interpreter but their truck would be impounded and towed. They spoke eloquent english after that.

[the big wheel]

no , no-one is being protected . there are many pics of the whole thing , 18 miles from me . there are hundreds of intersections just like that all over the country , can't believe it, but in a way i even feel sorry for the driver . don't know about anyone else , but i have had some close calls in my 40 + years of driving , some would of been my fault . this is so sad all of the way around . but we must remember , this is someones yard . spruce trees that have taken a lifetime to grow . all of the dead trees east of yard have been piled . visibility is better , but sadly , a stop sign is a stop sign . that was the problem

Well if there are hundreds of these tree areas they should be cleared. Our rm does it all the time. Has greatly reduced accidents.

It was good that the driver plead was guilty but I think he knew his sentence would be stiffer if he didn't. He also said he was preoccupied with the tarp which is a bunch of bullshit because if he was worried about the tarp he should have stopped and fixed it. A blown off tarp could have killed someone he met. Therefore knowingly driving like rhat he was dangerous driving for rhat alone. I think he just didn't give a shit since he was driving a big truck.
I can't believe anyone would feel sorry for him.

Which gets back to the point are we worried about the training or are we worried about making the entire act of driving safe? Making it safe means giving the good driver a chance to look out and react to those that aren't for what ever reason

How on earth can anyone be more concerned about a lousy group of trees over someone child, father, daughter, mother or who ever.

Do you have children case? Would you be saying the same if your child died there? Do you not understand that the bus driver would have had a chance to do something meaning all those lives could have been saved? Or do you value a bloody tree more? My God!!

[helmsdale]

In the case of the Humbolt driver, his offence was running the stop sign not murdering the team, he is looking at jail time and deportation, if he had been 30 seconds earlier or later the situation would have ended quite different. So whatever his sentance is should that be the new standard punishment for running the stop sign instead of a couple hundred dollar fine? Don't know just askin?

It's a little more complicated than that I'm thinking... From the sounds of it, this particular driver is blaming it on "inexperience". You don't really need much experience to recognize that a big red octagon, with STOP on it and a flashing red light, mean you should stop.

When listening to some of his explaining of his recollection of events, and reading about what he had been doing the previous few days, I don't think it was necessarily his "driving" that was the issue. I have an uncanny feeling that it was his "lack of driving", at the very moment in question that was the real problem.

What I mean is:
-I believe him when he says he didn't see the stop sign.
-I believe him, when he says he never seen the bus.
-I believe him, when he said he had no idea what happened until he climbed out of his crumpled rig in the ditch and it took him a few minutes to realize the gravity of the situation.
-I believe the RCMP reconstruction team, that believes he made absolutely no attempt to stop, and blew the intersection at somewhere between 86 and 96 km/h.
-I believe the facts agreed upon by the crown and defence, that there was nothing obscuring his view of the stop sign, with no sun in his eyes, no inclement weather, and the intersection being clearly visible at the time. He also passed signs indicating that an intersection with a stop sign was ahead. He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, and was not disctracted by a cellphone.

Now you're probably wondering how I can believe all of the things above even though agreed statements of facts are in contradiction with his own personal statements. It's relatively simple... He was ASLEEP! Or at the very least he was in that hazy spot where you damned near feel like you're out of your own body, or at the very worst, you're completely blacked out.

What makes me think he was asleep at the wheel? His log book was SHIT!!! In only a 14 day recording period he had racked up 51 federal regulation, and 19 provincial regulation violations. There were unaccounted for KM's, and roughly an hour not properly accounted for on the day in question alone. Let alone his trying to write off "loading dock time", as "Off duty". Had he been pulled at a roadside that day, he would have immediately been put out of service not for the day, but for an entire full length reset of 72 Hr's.

Honest to god, I believe he didn't see the stop sign, he didnt see the bus, and he didn't know what happened because he was asleep at the wheel!

I would hazard to argue that something as simple as mandatory E-logs would have prevented this whole damned mess.

[Guest]

Well if there are hundreds of these tree areas they should be cleared. Our rm does it all the time. Has greatly reduced accidents.

It was good that the driver plead was guilty but I think he knew his sentence would be stiffer if he didn't. He also said he was preoccupied with the tarp which is a bunch of bullshit because if he was worried about the tarp he should have stopped and fixed it. A blown off tarp could have killed someone he met. Therefore knowingly driving like rhat he was dangerous driving for rhat alone. I think he just didn't give a shit since he was driving a big truck.
I can't believe anyone would feel sorry for him.

Which gets back to the point are we worried about the training or are we worried about making the entire act of driving safe? Making it safe means giving the good driver a chance to look out and react to those that aren't for what ever reason

How on earth can anyone be more concerned about a lousy group of trees over someone child, father, daughter, mother or who ever.

Do you have children case? Would you be saying the same if your child died there? Do you not understand that the bus driver would have had a chance to do something meaning all those lives could have been saved? Or do you value a bloody tree more? My God!!

to each his own , i guess . me and others , probably you too said he would be long gone and never see a courtroom . well we were all wrong . anyways are you gonna go out and knock every bluff down at every intersection .did you watch the news , some the families of the victims felt sorry for him . anyways i surprised myself for thinking that , but certainly don't need to explain that to you

[the big wheel]

to each his own , i guess . me and others , probably you too said he would be long gone and never see a courtroom . well we were all wrong . anyways are you gonna go out and knock every bluff down at every intersection .did you watch the news , some the families of the victims felt sorry for him . anyways i surprised myself for thinking that , but certainly don't need to explain that to you

Instead of a stadium yes I'd cut down every intersection of two main highway at least for sure. That's a main intersection where traffic crosses rhat highway. There a something going on there with that story there was a blurb about problems there years before people wanted those trees gone. I guess they can live with rhe tees and all those crosses across the road also. But like you said everyone was different if it was my yard I'd take those trees out after the accidents years ago. But that's just me.

Yes some of rhe families feel that way everyone has their way of handling grief and their own religious beliefs and I bet some haven't even gotten truly over the shock of what's happenned. But whether they do or not ask any of them if there was a high probability if the trees weren't there their loved one would be alive. What would the answer be?

And no you don't have to explain anything to me I don't care if you do or not. Except you never answered if it was your kids would you think different? If it was mine I d go there after and pile those *** trees up permission or not so someone else doesn't suffer at rhat corner. But that's just me.

[the big wheel]

i wouldn't want to be the people responsible for those trees not removed if there ever was an accident there again.

It may have been that he was asleep as helmsdale suggests, or just stupid or someone's brakes fail. Under all of those scenerios as long as those trees are there the ones with the right of way have no chance to save themselves. No training is going to fix that only the trees gone.

[Klause]

It's 125 hours.


You're behind the wheel of potentially 9 axles and 63 tonnes or more.

When I got my class one it was 240 hours of training.


I could set slacks drive standard and auto and knew every part of the air system...

Plus a bunch of tricks you'd only know from old school truckers.


Plus ice road experience. Chaining. Splitting B's


It's worth it. Get the training.

And then there's all the log book and legislative bullshit these days.

My wife and I both have class 1s. She took hers here in sask what a bullshit course she learnt nothing I didn't already teach her.


Will this make class 1 driver's more valuable? Probably. That's a good thing.

I'm tired of "class 1" drivers who can't handle this kinda terrain.

[blackpowder]

Easy there big fella. We were talking about immediate peak season farming needs. Not starting a reality TV show.
But seriously, I do agree with you on training.
Trick is to know your limits. I now only go short hauls in daylight.

[blackpowder]

Like jeez, at harvest I've got trucks on gravel only. 15 mile hauls max. But no insurance cause the guy that day might not have his papers.

[15444]

The only thing that will change is that it will make driving regs real miserable for all you white guys. You are well on your way to Ontario regs where you won't be pulling a handful of cows in a trailer with a 3/4 ton without have an A1 licence, log books and all the rest.

But in the city, Burka Burka wants his licence, so he contacts Durka Durka who has a cousin, Gurka Gurka, who does A1 Driver Training and has a brother, Jurka Jurka, who works for the provincal licensing office. So a couple hours later and a bunch of paperwork, Burka Burka is a certified truck driver. And if anyone questions it, just scream racism.

[farmaholic]

I truly believe we are in a new era with the influx of migrants and many trying to make careers in the trucking industry, we are no longer issuing 1A licenses to only Canadian citizens. People of different countries and different rules, languages, customs, morals, beliefs, skills. There's rumours of some countrie's drivers, rules and vehicles being described as atrocious.

A little while ago I told a story on here where we had a winter rain and highways were skating rinks. The big gravel haul to Regina's infamous Bypass project was happening on the highway I live near. The trucks were absolutely inconsiderate. Because the ice was thick and the weather turned cold after, the salt/sand applied to the highway only cleared a path in the middle of the highway. Well the trucks hogged that one lane's worth of dry pavement IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY. Oncoming traffic had to navigate solid ice straddling their own lane and the shoulder of the highway, which is far from a smooth highway it was 30 years ago. Even at cautious speeds commuters risked losing control on that highway in those conditions being forced to drive where they were. So instead of each lane of traffic, on the two lane highway, having their driver's side wheels on dry pavement, only the road hogging trucks were on it(they weren't all guilty). My own experience was a night time one. I was in my lane with numerous oncoming vehicle's lights approaching, kinda hard to tell what was what as they seemed staggered, as I approached the first truck I realized the ****er was in the middle of the highway, halfway in my lane, were did I have to go but over to the right and onto the ice at a speed I wasn't comfortable driving at on it(I was travelling less than the speed limit due to conditions). Needless to say the DOT got a call from me the next business day and I told them they better get out there and monitor them. Well I couldn't have been the only one to call, people were making Facebook posts complaining about the situation and saying they were phoning the RCMP as well. In the days following(and it took a long time for the ice to wear off) I was on the highway again and some of the trucks would wonder over the center line as oncoming traffic approached and then back into their lane when the vehicle was close, kinda taunting or playing chicken....ya---"Professional Drivers". Intimidation and retaliation to the public for being reported by the public.

Sorry for the long drawn out post, but it goes to show what we're dealing with and some "people's" mentality.

[dalek]

The only thing that will change is that it will make driving regs real miserable for all you white guys. You are well on your way to Ontario regs where you won't be pulling a handful of cows in a trailer with a 3/4 ton without have an A1 licence, log books and all the rest.

But in the city, Burka Burka wants his licence, so he contacts Durka Durka who has a cousin, Gurka Gurka, who does A1 Driver Training and has a brother, Jurka Jurka, who works for the provincal licensing office. So a couple hours later and a bunch of paperwork, Burka Burka is a certified truck driver. And if anyone questions it, just scream racism.

Happens here in town every damn day. Truck and trailer pull in from a Brampton driving school 3 hours away, 5-6 people fall out of the sleeper all wearing similar clothes with different coloured turbans. Written tests are all done with phones in hand “to help translate”. When the first road test comes up, the first student and the school instructor disappear into the washroom and swap turbans, the instructor takes the test. If the tester says anything they have the whole group swarming them screaming about racism making all kinds of threats so they’ve given up. Next test, same instructor swaps turbans with his next student and takes the road test for him. Etc etc.