TTSAO handles change with grace

Avatar photo

Hamilton, ON – So far this year the Truck Training School Association of Ontario (TTSAO) has seen lots of change.

The association has a new staff, a new office in Hamilton and a new Web site. Despite all this changes, Yvette Lagrois, president of the TTSAO is very pleased with the direction of the TTSAO and the effort of the board of directors.

“We’re taking the TTSAO in a new direction. Insurance companies, trucking companies and industry service providers are going to see some true value in what the association does for the transportation industry,” Lagrois commented.

Ed Popkie, president of 5th Wheel Training Institute, was also welcomed back to TTSAO. He will be assisting with proposed changes in Ontario to new minimum standards for truck drivers.

“Our team is excited to be back at TTSAO helping to implement changes that will make the future of the transportation industry better.” Popkie said.

Another change for the association is that it is no longer in the auditing business. (The company used to audit every school annually.)

“Before we had to police ourselves because the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) did not have the staff and ability to monitor the schools. This has changed and things are improving,” Lagrois said. “This does not mean we have watered down the by-laws and constitution, we have actually put a process in place that will keep our membered schools accountable,” she added.

Avatar photo

Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


Have your say


This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.

*

  • If the TTSAO isn’t going to monitor Truck Training schools who is ? Not that TTSAO ever held schools to a very high standard it was better than nothing.
    It was the stone wall that I pounded my head against for years trying to get some real changes made that would help new graduates be better prepared to get a job.
    I questioned the vehicles that were used to train “D” licensed drivers, what does running around in a box van truck teach them to handle a dump truck,,, or bobtailing in a road tractor really make them efficient shifting a dump truck loaded with gravel ?
    Any of us that have had to bobtail several miles to p/u a trailer will know that a road tractor bobtail shifts nothing like one that has a trailer hooked.
    Just the fact that this is a very unsafe vehicle for a rookie should alert the schools to stopping this practice,, braking distance alone is about twice the distance for a bobtail then it is for a loaded truck plus the fact that the braking is and weight is all on the front which can cause the tractor to spin if a panic brake is applied.
    All that aside I have talked to construction companies a lot of the better ones will not take a new DZ driver from these schools because of this inadequate training.
    I tried suggesting to the school I was training at to diversify their equipment and get a dump truck for the D drivers … when someone is paying $5,000.00 plus for a license the schools should be providing them with the right tools.
    These schools are supposed to be providing well trained level 1 drivers ,,instead they are setting a lot of them up to fail.
    Bev Plummer

    Reply