Posts Tagged ‘Louise Philbin’

Ticktock…Ticktock…Ticktock! The clock is ticking for anyone in Ontario who wants to get a Class AZ driver’s licence. The mandatory entry-level standards will be a reality by July 1, 2017. But I believe the clock is ticking even louder for all trucking companies. If they are not awake yet, they soon will be. The industry…

I remember having a discussion with a few seasoned truck drivers and Owner-Operators regarding the ideal student to teach how to drive a truck. They all agreed that young men who were raised on a farm were by far the best and easiest to teach. I certainly agreed with them. After all, I knew that…

WINTER IS COMING! And unlike the Game of Thrones where winter comes occasionally and is accompanied with great dread, our winters come every year. But we do have one thing in common with this series… we also feel great dread at its arrival. This is especially true in the trucking industry where the coming of…

The looming deadline for the implementation of Mandatory Entry-level Training (MELT) standards for Class A truck drivers has stimulated much discussion about the current state of training in the Province of Ontario. As a contributor to Over the Road magazine, I have given my opinions on many issues related to MELT and training and as…

Since minimum training standards for driver-instructors will not happen in the near future, how should a carrier find them? Have you looked in your own driver pool? What are the qualities that make a truck driver a good instructor? The answers may surprise you. From my experience, the classic first mistake most carriers make is…

Sean is a seasoned truck driver and he’s very upset about the lack of standards for training driver-instructors. He works hard to do a good job and really cares about making sure new drivers are well prepared and safe to work on our roads. But he doesn’t believe the industry cares as much as he…

In the June issue of Over the Road, I talked about the pitfalls of expecting driver-instructors to teach new drivers when they are given little to no training to do so. When I discussed the article with my colleagues, we came to the conclusion that I made a good point of explaining the importance for…

Who is qualified to teach someone to drive a truck? Most companies or well meaning individuals assume that any good truck driver can easily teach a new driver. It is assumed that the better the driver; the better the instructor. Anyone who has been involved in trades training knows immediately that this is the biggest…