TORONTO — The second annual Truckload Carriers’ Association Best Fleets to Drive For results are in and out of the 17 winning truck companies, seven are Canadian.

Among the Canadian winners: Bison Transport from Winnipeg; MSM Transportation from Bolton, Ont.; Brian Kurtz Trucking, Breslau, Ont.; Laidlaw Carriers Van, Guelph, Ont.; MacKinnon Transport, Guelph, Ont.; Shulist Trucking, Maple, Ont.; Yanke Group of Companies, Saskatoon, Sask.

The trucking companies are nominated by at least one driver in their fleet. Fleets have to operate with 10 or more trucks in order to qualify.

Online training software provider, CarriersEdge, took care of assembling the data from the surveys it conducted, and evaluated the companies nominated on the types of programs they offer their drivers, the usefulness of the programs and the answers of truckers who took the survey.

The survey also acts as an indicator of industry trends, says TCA president Chris Burruss.

"This is the second time the survey has been conducted, and the data that has emerged from it has been very useful to the industry in terms of identifying trends and where things are headed," says Burruss in a recent statement.

The survey also gives a peek into the groundbreaking programs carriers are using to recruit and retain drivers. For example, Bison Transports offers a comprehensive corporate intranet, which permits drivers’ family members to login and view where the driver is.

Trends identified through the survey results include more companies offering greener solutions, even as fuel prices evened out.

“More and more bonus programs seem to be tied directly to environmental initiatives like fuel efficiency and idle time," Mark Murrell, president of CarriersEdge, stated.

TCA will announce in March the winners for Best Fleet for Owner Operators and Best Fleet for Company Drivers. The winners who surveyed the highest score overall, will be honored at the TCA Annual Convention, Feb, 28-March 3, 2010, at the Wynn Resort in Las Vagas, Nevada.