Truckers need more training to prevent bridge strikes, says BC Trucking president

Every time a tractor trailer hits an overpass, it leaves us scratching our heads. Why does this keep happening?

After a recent bridge strike, which occurred June 12, 2018, Dave Earle, president and CEO of the BC Trucking Association believes he has the answer.

“People aren’t having the training they need,” Earle said. “They’re not having the time to make the right decisions that they need.”

In hindsight of the latest incident, he tried to get into the head of the driver.

“When you look at it… we look back and ask, what training and opportunity did that driver have to make that decision and to do the right thing?” Earle questioned.

Remember the #hwy1 morning commute? Driver of container truck that hit Glover Rd. overpass could face a $115 fine for non conforming load. @GlobalBC #Langley pic.twitter.com/MJVFmops4p

— Ted Field (@tedfieldglobal) June 12, 2018

As reported by Global News, Earle believes that each driver should have enough awareness to know the height, weight, length, and contents of their load. When a driver plans their route, they should know their limitations and plan accordingly.

Although there is training for these issues, Earle believes that some truckers are not issued enough time to really sharpen those skills. He argues that current truck driver training isn’t teaching new drivers enough and that Canadian authorities should implement new training standards: “That’s where we believe some minimum entry-level training standards should really apply … We need to be able to make sure operators understand the importance of knowing their load, that they understand how to measure the dimensions of their load, and that they understand the importance of planning their route.”

If his hypothesis is correct, we’ll continue to see bridge strike after bridge strike until proper training standards are put into place.