CALGARY, (April 11, 2005) — Alberta truckers and driver trainers are still trying to figure out how to fix their industry’s image a month after a local driving school was infiltrated and shut down by Calgary police for selling commercial licences to untrained students.

“It’s not an easy fix,” warns Steve Dormaar of SK Driver Training Ltd. in Lethbridge, Alta. “My feeling is that it’s a bruise to us, but on the other hand, I’m glad to see it getting cleaned up.”

Most seem to agree that Operation Humbug, which led to charges against a doctor and the owner of Calgary’s Delta Driving School in March, may have a hand in tarnishing the industry’s reputation in the eyes of the public. Police, tipped by provincial investigators, allege Class-1 licences were doled out to several hundred unqualified drivers, many of them from outside the province.

Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC) subsequently retested over 100 truck drivers that received a licence from the Delta school — and every one failed the retest. Investigations continue, and at least one more of Alberta’s 30 or so schools are suspected of similar violations.

The fallout was almost instantaneous. There’s been demand from public interests to institute mandatory driver training before a road test can be completed, and even some rumours of a provincial apprenticeship program.

Lyle Oberg, Alberta Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, has already publicly vowed to do “what must be done” to clean up licensing abuse. But he didn’t endorse an apprenticeship program, telling Today’s Trucking that a rookie driver in training would need to spend months behind the wheel under constant supervision from a qualified veteran driver. “The industry just can’t afford the time or the cost,” he says.

Oberg also says that Alberta has no plans to change its policy of contracting out commercial licence testing. For now, the province will step up a system of random checks on schools, “just to make sure they’re legit,” notes Oberg. The government will also offer industry a new certification process that would standardize training and testing requirements.

“There would be requirements for the driver and the driving school, and it would be quite regimented,” says Oberg. However, details could still be a year away.

Dormaar welcomes improvement in testing standards, but warns that in itself may add another layer to the worsening driver shortage. “Truck training is expensive,” he says, adding that a reputable school can cost between $4,500 to $5,500. “People don’t have the funds, so they do the minimum.”

So how do you firm up standards without turning off potential trainees?
Over at Transportation Compliance Centre in Calgary, owner Lynne Kuipers says both government and industry have a role to play. “The province needs more staff to monitor drivers and driving schools,” says Kuipers. “But due diligence also lies with carriers. You can’t just accept a licence at face value. Remember, they’re putting a driver in a truck, and that truck, trailer, and load could easily be worth $250,000. It’s good business to road test that driver no matter how long he’s had a Class-1 for.”

In the wake of the alleged Delta school scam, Ron Singer, president and CEO of Ron Singer Truck Lines in Calgary, calls for enforcement of existing standards, but he too believes that the industry must police itself.
On the flip-side, he also sees a need for regulatory or legislative changes that put some liability in the driver’s lap.

“Drivers need to be made more accountable,” says Singer. “You know, now, a guy rolls a truck in the ditch, and he just walks away and asks for his paycheque. It’s the company that’s faced with liability.”

— by Timothy le Riche