Truck driving school says students need better training as OPP report surge in transport truck collisions

As OPP report a 10-year high in the number of collisions they have attended involving transport trucks, a Windsor, Ont. truck driving school said not enough is being done to ensure students know how to tackle high-pressure situations before they head out on the open road.

Ontario Provincial Police are in the midst of a week-long enforcement blitz called ‘Operation Safe Driver.’ Officers said the blitz is in response to numbers from 2022, showing provincial police responded to 9,110 collisions involving transport trucks.

That's the highest in more than a decade, according to OPP.

Raymond St. Jean, general manager for Northstar Truck Driving School, said the data is shocking but not surprising.

"We definitely need more training out there in the industry. The mandatory, entry-level training which consists of 103.5 hours minimum for new drivers coming out into the field is nowhere near enough," St. Jean said.

That lack of "seat time," St. Jean explained, results in many students being trained for their driving test rather than the industry, leaving early drivers without the experience of being behind the wheel as unique situations play out, such as other drivers changing lanes without using their turn signals, speeding and driving while distracted.

Another problem is the fact that many people are aware there is a labour shortage in the trucking industry, he added.

"Years ago, if you wanted to be a truck driver, it's because you had a certain passion for it or you had family members that were truckers. So you were already familiar with the industry," said St. Jean. "Now, you have a lot of people giving into truckers that don't really want to be truckers. But they're coming in because they know there is going to be a job at the end of it."

Despite the record number of truck-involved collisions seen in 2022, OPP Const. Brett Phair said they make up just 12 per cent of overall collisions that year.

However, proximity to the U.S. means more trucks roll through Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent, compared to other regions across the province.

"Just by nature of the size and weight behind those vehicles, whenever there's a collision involving them, it certainly has, at the very least, the potential to be catastrophic," said Phair.

In fact, yet another catastrophe played out early Tuesday morning on Highway 401 near Chatham when a 41-year-old Leamington man died in a collision between a passenger vehicle and transport truck.

OPP said the most common reasons for highway collisions are improper lane changes, speeding and not leaving enough space between you and the vehicle ahead.

"The OPP acknowledges that lots of commercial motor vehicle operators are doing a great job of keeping our roadways safe," said Phair, pointing to aggressive, impaired and distracted driving as other reasons collisions occur locally.

"We're just looking for everyone to follow suit with those good drivers and show better driver behaviour,” he said.

As for St. Jean, he said many students walk in to Northstar Truck Driving School with concerns about the potential dangers of trucking.

In June, Northstar Trucking School added a truck driving simulator machine to its curriculum so students can work through unique scenarios and get a feel for the wheel of a truck.