A northwestern Ontario MPP pressed the province on truck crashes and driver training

In March 2023, Thunder Bay-Superior North NDP MPP Lise Vaugeois raised truck safety on northwestern Ontario highways at Queen's Park.

She described a weekend in which a transport truck destroyed two houses in Beardmore, a snowplow driver was killed near Ignace, and Highway 17 was closed for 12 hours for the second time after two transports collided, killing one of the drivers.

Training and pressure on drivers

Vaugeois said truck driver training and licensing were inconsistent. While most drivers were well trained, she said, some companies, likely those running their own schools, did not prepare drivers properly. She cited Auditor General work showing a 95% road test pass rate at carriers with their own schools, compared with 69% at DriveTest centres. She called it a conflict of interest for a trucking company to run its own school.

She also said some drivers were under pressure from their companies to keep going unless roads were actually closed, and lost pay unless they beat the clock.

Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney responded that Ontario had some of the most rigorous licensing requirements in Canada and kept reviewing best practices.

Closed scales

Travis McDougall, co-founder of Truckers for Safer Highways, said too few weigh scales were open. On a run from Barrie, Ont., to Richmond, B.C., the only open scale he crossed was at Hope, B.C. He said scales are where hours-of-service violations are most often caught, because an electronic log does not stop a driver who is over their hours.

Vaugeois noted that a new inspection station on Highway 11/17 between Thunder Bay and Nipigon was under construction and expected to open in August 2023.