New Transport Truck Licensing

[Admiral Beez]

http://www.trucknews.com/transportation/mto-officials-reveal-details-melt/1003072730/

While this is likely food news, considering the apparently increasing number of transport truck crashes, but what about those already on the road?

I'd like to get more trucks off the road and onto rail, especially anything that goes from one side of the GTA to the other.

 

[Dan416]

http://www.trucknews.com/transportation/mto-officials-reveal-details-melt/1003072730/

While this is likely food news, considering the apparently increasing number of transport truck crashes, but what about those already on the road?

I'd like to get more trucks off the road and onto rail, especially anything that goes from one side of the GTA to the other.

Rail from one end of the GTA to the other? Is that a serious suggestion? Rail from Toronto to Vancouver makes sense. From one part of Toronto to the other...frankly that's dreamland.

 

[kEiThZ]

Isn't this a pointless exercise? There will still be drivers and vehicles operating here that are licensed in other provinces and states.

 

[darth_freeman]

Isn't this a pointless exercise? There will still be drivers and vehicles operating here that are licensed in other provinces and states.

True, but the idea is for other provinces and states to follow. Someone has to be the first!

 

[Admiral Beez]

Isn't this a pointless exercise? There will still be drivers and vehicles operating here that are licensed in other provinces and states.

The States have stronger rules than Ontario for trucks, including much lower weights per axle.

 

[crs1026]

I see far more aggressive and ill-advised driving stunts from drivers of cube vans and stake trucks than from 18-wheelers. Occasionally a transport driver has trouble with the gears (or, more likely, is over weight for the power of the tractor) and has trouble making road speed. I'd far rather see emphasis on the smaller trucks than the bigger ones.

- Paul

 

[Admiral Beez]

I see far more aggressive and ill-advised driving stunts from drivers of cube vans and stake trucks than from 18-wheelers.

Apologies in advance as I thought this was a boneheaded typo, but stake trucks are an actual thing. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/stake-truck

I must admit though I can't recall seeing a stake truck on Toronto roads. Why did you focus on this very specific format?

 

[crs1026]

I must admit though I can't recall seeing a stake truck on Toronto roads. Why did you focus on this very specific format?

Um, because I don't know what to call trucks that are smaller than an 18-wheeler and bigger than a pickup? I would include ones with open backs (like the true stake truck in your picture, I see lots of them, often pulling bobcats and such on a trailer), and the enclosed cube cargo style that are used for local deliveries.

My observation is that the drivers of these are not hired with an eye to "driving" and the license examination is even less rigorous than 18-wheelers. And, these trucks are used by people with a different mentality - the long distance driver knows it will be a long haul to Thunder Bay, but the delivery guy or the landscaping crew coming home from a job knows quitting time is just a few km's down the road. It's tempting to overload these vehicles and the employment is closer to 'entry level' so driving experience isn't always a hiring criterion.

- Paul

 

[Admiral Beez]

There's also the U-Haul renter.

It does seem insane that with my GM class license that I can rent one of these.

 

[EYorker]

Um, because I don't know what to call trucks that are smaller than an 18-wheeler and bigger than a pickup? I would include ones with open backs (like the true stake truck in your picture, I see lots of them, often pulling bobcats and such on a trailer), and the enclosed cube cargo style that are used for local deliveries.

My observation is that the drivers of these are not hired with an eye to "driving" and the license examination is even less rigorous than 18-wheelers. And, these trucks are used by people with a different mentality - the long distance driver knows it will be a long haul to Thunder Bay, but the delivery guy or the landscaping crew coming home from a job knows quitting time is just a few km's down the road. It's tempting to overload these vehicles and the employment is closer to 'entry level' so driving experience isn't always a hiring criterion.

- Paul

Straight truck and flatbed truck would be what you were looking for .

I deal with truck drivers all day. The stories I could tell you... The industry isn't what it once was, that's for sure. A big problem these days is how companies are paying mileage instead of hourly. Used to be mostly long haul was paid mileage, and local was paid hourly. Now a lot of companies have gone mileage. So the drivers are in such a hurry to finish their day now, safety be damned. I'm glad the MTO is finally dealing with the lack of training though. If only they would implement retesting every few years to weed out the bad drivers who managed to get their licence through a mill.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Make tractor trailer driving a certified trade, like plumbers and electricians.

 

[Burnt creek]

I'd like to get more trucks off the road and onto rail, especially anything that goes from one side of the GTA to the other.

Businesses decide the best and/or most cost effective to transport their goods. Not governments.

 

[rbt]

Businesses decide the best and/or most cost effective to transport their goods. Not governments.

Governments both own the road and set the rules for their use. Business may not choose rails, but government could ensure they didn't choose roads.

I'm not suggesting that should be done, just that it could be done.

 

[crs1026]

When you consider the nose-to-tail lines of trucks on the 401 across the city, one wonders if the trucks are paying their fair share for the capacity used, and for the scarcity of capacity that current demand causes.

Government can and should apply a supply-and-demand pricing model to the 401, and then the trucking businesses can consider whether rail might be cheaper.

- Paul

 

[Burnt creek]

Government can and should apply a supply-and-demand pricing model to the 401, and then the trucking businesses can consider whether rail might be cheaper.

- Paul

So you guys are suggesting driving up the cost of doing business by regulating the best way to transport goods and services or by re-engineering the marketing chain. Ultimately, you and I are going to pay for those higher costs of doing business through higher prices. And, we will pay through the resulting loss of employment due to the uncompetitiveness (or over regulation) of our businesses/economy. Not to mention the critical importance this would have on our ability to get our products to market as fast as possible. In the global market that we now live in, the asian economies or mexico will gladly take our thousands of well paying manufacturing jobs that we gladly throw out the window.

Equally, the same considerations would apply to prospective foreign investors looking to setup shop abroad and/or are considering setting up a plant in canada versus Mexico,, versus the US, versus Asia.

Here is a better idea. Build better transit that people will want to use (not slow transit) so that there are fewer cars on the road, so that the trucks can take their merchandise to market faster . Equally, Labour is also a resource and the more it is stuck in traffic or on a street car that stopping every 50 metres, the more its costs the economy and our businesses due to loss productivity.