Every now and then the unexpected happens and things just plain work out. The blackout we had in Ontario last month? I had ice cream and beer for dinner.

But when you look ahead to 2004, as we do in our special report starting on page 38, the Big Issue you’re going to confront is one no one knows about yet, one you can’t really prepare for.

Something is going to happen. It always does, and the results will be anything but serendipitous for truckers.

This year it was the value of the U.S. dollar. It was mad cow. It was orange alerts at the border.

It was a ban on Canadian drivers hauling explosives into the United States.

You don’t remember that? You should. It took intense lobbying to reach even a make-shift solution, and the impact will effect U.S. policymaking on security checks for foreign drivers in the future.

In January, a law passed along with the Homeland Security Act of 2002 took effect prohibiting people who don’t live in the United States from carrying explosives. I don’t like the idea of anyone toting a backpack full of Geldyn around town; I don’t care where you’re from. But the rule had what the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms called an “unintended consequence”: it applied to truck drivers living in Canada who make their living hauling explosives between here and the United States.

“They wanted to make sure that anyone with explosives had been screened to their satisfaction with a comprehensive background security check–fingerprints, photographs, the works,” says Graham Cooper of the Canadian Trucking Alliance in Ottawa. “We explained that non-residents are screened to the satisfaction of the U.S. government when they apply for a FAST card.”

FAST–Free and Secure Trade–is a voluntary program promising expedited border clearance. Among the components is a tamper-proof photo ID card for truck drivers. In order to receive one, drivers undergo criminal records checks in both Canada and the United States, have their citizenship and residency status verified, and are personally interviewed and fingerprinted.

Cooper and the CTA want the United States to accept the FAST card as the only security ID card a Canadian driver needs.

Yes, the FAST card application system is flawed. There aren’t enough hours in the day to efficiently conduct personal interviews of the nearly 20,000 Canadian drivers who have applied so far. Drivers aren’t showing up for interviews because times and locations are hard to co-ordinate. Applications are being rejected because they aren’t complete or the screeners can’t read the handwriting. Privacy laws limit the amount of intervention a carrier can take on behalf of their drivers.

Yet the FAST card is an idea you should support, even if you never intend to join FAST as a company. It’s one of our issues to watch in 2004.

Consider the latest security rules for hazardous materials haulers. In May, the United States issued an interim final rule requiring background investigations on commercial drivers certified to transport hazardous goods. The roughly 3.5 million drivers in the United States with hazmat endorsements on their CDL will need a criminal, immigration, and FBI records check before they can get their endorsement renewed.

Canadian drivers don’t have CDL endorsements, so the rule doesn’t apply to them. But you can bet the U.S. Transportation Security Administration will think of something. The more support there is here, the more likely it is that “something” will be the FAST card, instead of yet another layer of bureaucracy for you to grapple with or worse: simply turning your truck drivers around at the border.

The best magazine and newspaper columnists routinely fill a page with ideas that draw as many “what the…?” reactions as glowing ones. If you were with us when the late Stan Kimberley was on our back page, you know what I mean.

So I wasn’t surprised at all when Jim Park (left) was honoured by the Canadian Business Press for his column writing recently. I run Jim’s page because I think it’s important for managers and owners who get the magazine to see the driver’s side (even if it is just one page), and because Jim gives an important sense of advocacy to the many owner-operators who subscribe.

Unlike other columnists you see in trade magazines, Jim isn’t a consultant peddling a service: he’s the real deal, a former truck driver who happens to be an excellent writer, as adept at commentary on hard issues as he is at more personal perspectives. I’ve seen his truly haunting column “In the Blink of an Eye” from March 2002, about the effects of a tragic accident, stapled to safety bulletins and posted in driver lounges. I’ll forward a copy if you want–it’s worth reading if you missed it.

Stephen Petit is the editor of Today’s Trucking. You can reach him at 416/614-5826, or stephen@todaystrucking.com.