Al Baron, an owner-operator who hauls for Red Carpet Freight Systems in Edmonton, called his dispatcher earlier this year with an unusual announcement.

"He said it was his anniversary," recalls dispatcher Glenn Skoropadyk. "I knew he wasn’t married or anything, so I said, ‘What’s this all about?’ He says, ‘I’ve been 72 years behind the wheel.’"

Baron is 89 years old, and he’s been driving since he was 17 — since April 5, 1939 to be exact. "He knows it right down to the day," says Skoropadyk. "And we’re pretty proud of him. You don’t meet too many people who’ve been at it that long."

And not just at it, but leading the pack in professionalism, enthusiasm, and dependability. He’s got six million accident-free miles under his belt… and going strong.

"He’s about the best guy I got here, to tell you the truth," says Skoropadyk. "At his age, he still goes up and down the trailers, ties down ugly loads, he’s always on time, he’ll run six days a week to Fort McMurray. It doesn’t both him. He doesn’t whine. He doesn’t complain."

Al Baron might well be the face of trucking’s future.

Demographics and economics both suggest Canadians are retiring later and living longer. And as the driver shortage continues to worsen, baby boomer drivers will almost certainly be asked to stay in the cab longer than they might prefer.

Tom Cutts, owner of Red Carpet Freight Systems, would take a bunch more drivers just like Al if he could get them.

"He’s in amazing shape. You’d never know he was that old. He’s been with the company for six years now, as a lease operator, working exclusively for us, and his health is good. Everything’s really solid on him."

And like most jurisdictions in North America, Alberta makes sure he stays that way, as long as he’s driving. They make him come in for an annual physical.

Baron doesn’t mind the check-up. In fact he has a little fun with it.
"I walk in with a smile on my face. And when the nurse tells me to read the top line of the eye chart, I say, ‘Never mind that; let’s go down the second line from the bottom!’ They always think I’m wearing contact lenses, but I’m not," he says with a chuckle.

When he learns that not only do drivers in Ontario have to take a physical every year, but they have to re-drive the actual driver’s test too, he can barely believe it.

"They have to have a test drive every year?" he asks. "What on earth for? That’s goofy! If the guy’s driving all year, what’s he going to forget? That’s squirrely! If they asked me to do that, I’d tell them what to do with the paper!"

89-year-old driver Al Baron thinks
retesting drivers over 65 is ‘goofy’

And that’s how a lot of aging Ontario drivers feel, too. But they know if they want to ply their trade in the province after the age of 65, they’ve got to put up with it.

Indeed, that’s what Reg Delahunt of Lanark, Ont. does. He’s 70 years old. And the price for staying in the cab is an annual visit to an MTO office to retake his licence test. He doesn’t complain about it because he knows there’s not much he can do about it.

"It’s not a big deal. I don’t think about it too much," he says. "There’s no surprises on that test anymore."

But Al Brodie, a driver out of Mount Forest, Ont., thinks it’s time that ridiculous law was put to bed.

"Ontario is the only jurisdiction in North America where this is done," he says. "It’s total discrimination, is what it is. It’s just a money grab."

Brodie has not yet reached the age where he has to submit himself to annual tests, but he’s getting closer, and some of his friends are already there. It enrages him.

"I think it’s time to stand up to the MTO and say this ain’t fair," he says. "They’ve put a restriction on this job that they don’t put on any other profession. They’re making it difficult for good, healthy, competent drivers to keep working. Here we are, running for years, accident free, and they’re taking us off the road. It don’t make sense."

Brodie knows a driver who’ll have to start getting retested in September.

"He’s nervous because we all know people who’ve taken the test and because they didn’t dot all their i’s and cross all their t’s, get their licence yanked. That happens to him, he’ll go out of business. Just like that."

Doug Switzer, the former vice president of public affairs at the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) told us before leaving the association last month that the OTA has been on the case for a number of years now… and for very good reason.

"Almost all jurisdictions have some kind of more-stringent requirements for older drivers. But Ontario is the most rigorous in terms of requiring annual retesting and physicals. It is by far the most onerous retesting regime," he says.

"We’ve run campaigns where we’ve had drivers write in to the government. We’ve had carriers contact the government. And certainly we have this conversation with the government four or five times a year. The issue is very well known in provincial government circles."

(Perhaps finding it difficult to continue justifying the law scientifically or even legally, the MTO has been saying for years that they are reconsidering the rule — or relaxing it — but so far nothing’s happened).

But Switzer thinks the message is slowly getting through.

"I think we’ve gotten the government to admit that, yes, they’re probably being a little hard on older drivers," he says. "We’re guardedly optimistic that we’re going to get some changes to that in the next little while, like next year or so."

The bad news, though, is that MTO is changing over a key computer system which makes it a bad time to change licence requirements.

"Although they’re not raising any objections to our arguments, the answers we’re getting now are more around the technical problem of being hung up in the midst of a massive I.T. changeover. They don’t want to reprogram the old system because it’s on the way out, and they don’t have the new system in place yet," he says.

"It’s a very frustrating reason. If I were a 72-year-old driver having to go in for my test, I’d be angry. Everybody knows I shouldn’t have to do this, but because they can’t get their stupid computers to work, I have to take a day off work? Yeah, that’s frustrating."