Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

Available soon for OTA Members to train from within their organization (May 3, 2017) — The “Essential Driving Skills; Tractor-Trailer Driver” curriculum package is now complete and approved by the Ministry of Transportation (MTO). The materials are now in production and will be available shortly as an off-the-shelf program to OTA member fleets wishing to…

How many times have you been stuck trying to make a specific task or project perfect and then got completely frustrated to the point of quitting when, in fact, you had probably nailed the task some time ago? My partner Jimmy Papineau and I have been working for just under a year on a retention…

Recently a trucking company client told me a story. Their Safety Director received a telephone call from a man who stated that he was currently in the hospital. He told the Safety Director that he had been rear-ended by one of his trucks and he claimed that the truck driver simply took off after the…

What makes a word relate better to a male or a female? According to Kat Matfield, who created a gender decoder for job ads (http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com), “we all use language that is subtly “gender-coded” and this affects job advertising as well. Matfield based her web-based tool on a study by professors from the University of Waterloo…

While I was visiting a small trucking company recently, I was reminded of FMCSR 392.9. This regulation specifies what you must do, and when you need to perform cargo securement checks. I had forgotten all about this regulation, but it’s important because we have similar laws here in Canada. So what new information might you…

Women In Trucking Association (WIT) announces Carol Nixon as its March Member of the Month. Carol is a WIT Image Team member and professional driver for Walmart Private Fleet. Carol is being recognized for giving a kidney to a total stranger. Carol and a fellow Walmart driver, Deb Pollard both attended the first annual WIT…

The issue of driver turnover has plagued the industry for over four decades and it seems to me that trucking companies should have made better progress by now in bringing it under control. The fact is that many trucking companies see the published numbers coming from the American Trucking Association and the Canadian Trucking Alliance…

Federal Budget Keeps Freight Transportation in Mind (March 23, 2017) — Budget 2017 provided some much-needed attention to freight transportation planning in Canada, including a new National Trade Corridors Fund to help address capacity constraints and freight bottlenecks at major ports of entry as well as improve connections between rail and highway infrastructure. The budget…