Not every fleet owner wants to see the government dig into its pockets to reward superior safety performance.

Joe Bogach, president of Edmonton’s Grimshaw Trucking, played a key role in getting Alberta’s Partners in Action (PIC) program off the ground five years ago and he says carriers demanding that governments spice up premier carrier programs with financial rewards are looking in the wrong places to save money.

“I guess I’m 180 degrees off (the industry’s position) on this one…but it’s time we as an industry stopped looking for handouts,” Bogach says. “The rewards I’m looking for out of this program are fewer accidents, better claims management, better unit management and lower insurance costs. Anybody looking for a government handout, I’m not sure has the solution. Governments don’t have the money to give handouts.”

Nor does Bogach believe that shippers and the insurance industry are apathetic about programs such as PIC that identify the industry’s safest operators.

“I got lower insurance and we’ve also picked up a few accounts because we are a PIC carrier,” Bogach said. “But I’m taking advantage of the program. It’s paying off because we’re marketing it.”

From where Bogach stands the only thing that may be wrong with PIC may be that it’s ahead of its time and carriers and other provincial governments just aren’t ready for it.