Dairy Farmer Killed
 

What have you guys heard about the gravel truck that rammed the 2 travelling dairy farmers-Killing the wife??

Saw it in a report on global news last night or the night before. The roads in Saskabush are cursed this year. Seems to be happening everywhere though. My neighbor was subpoened this week to testify in a court case of careless driving against a semi driver who rear ended him sending him and the loaded grain truck he was driving into the ditch on our road. (797).
The semi driver was fighting the careless charge. How does a semi truck bear down on a tractor with a life size plastic cow on the back or a grain truck without being able to slow enough to avoid a collision????

Extremely sad story, haven't heard much beyond the wife being killed and the husband in critical condition.

Terrible situation.

Couple on a good will mission to promote drinking milk, More evidence we need better training for truck drivers.

Grizz

I kinda hope all drivers take note. Privilege extends to all things that ease life.

I like milk.

As a truck driver, milk truck, I agree with this statement but I would add that there should be better training for ALL DRIVERS. I am glad that the company I work for runs with dashboard cameras so if something happens they can see what really happened . . . not the statements of the drivers. There is always 3 sides to every story . . . my side, your side and the truth.

Its a shame. Haven't read up on the investigation, so I can't say I've an opinion on what has happened.
With the lack of properly trained truck drivers this is going to get more common. A huge percentage of the drivers we currently have are getting to the age where they are dangerous. The huge numbers needed to fill the empty seats we currently have, means more poorly trained drivers being hired.
On the plus side to the driver shortage, its getting to be a pretty good paying career.

I was surprised to learn that Ontario is the ONLY Province to licence all A/Z drivers, (that is all tractor trailer drivers with an air attachment) after they went to school in order to get an A/Z licence. The school cost about $1000.00. If there is a better alternative, what is it? Or maybe I am wrong?

I believe a lot of the problem lies with the fact that you can pay the $1000.00 (or whatever) to " Ralph's Driving School" and when you're done " Ralph" can give you the test and naturally you pass it. The schools offering the training should not be allowed to verify the competency of the students and turn them loose with an 80,000# rig on the public roads

Theres alot of truckers on this forum who could tell you all why so many accidents with semis. Many of us have gone to various govt. branches with our complaints.

I figured many years ago that sooner or later there would be many more accidents involving semis. Now it seems its happening years later.

Such a sad thing that folks have to die before anything is done about it all.

I think I am going to disagree with you on that.

When I got my class three (three axle truck) and my class 1 (truck and trailer) years ago, I learned on my own or in a school and then did my written exam and my driving test with a provincial examiner. This was in Saskatchewan.

That was a lot of years ago and things may have changed.

I don't THINK SO, you have to pass a stringent test with the MTO and not Ralph's Driving School. I stand to be corrected, but I think that is true. When I passed my test, one block was the standard for a driver's exam and 2 blocks for a Charffer's Licence, never passed in spelling. I have been driving now for 68 years and have one AT FAULHT accident, did a stupid thing, as luck would have it, nobody was hurt. OH WELL!!! Oh by the way my payload was 76,500lbs and counting the weight of the truck, was over 125,000lbs.

There has definitely been a decrease in the professionalism of commercial drivers over the years. Used to be, outside drivers of Dump trucks, you could pretty much bet anyone driving a large truck was excellent at his job. Companies could not afford the insurance costs if they hired bad drivers, not to mention, most drivers took great pride in what they did for a living.

There needs to be far more stringent testing and the penalties for violations in semis need to be a lot more serious. This is a place where 5 demerits should get your class one or 2 lifted for a year and 8 points should cancel your class 3 for a year. There should also be much more enforcement re trucks that aren't in good condition and driving infractions, particularly aggressive driving by commercial vehicles.

That said, some of the truly STUPID things I have seen farmers do with their equipment on highways and secondary roads boggles the mind. Pulling out right in front of vehicles doing 110 KLM/H is pretty common, no lights on the rear of equipment after dark while doing 10 mph and a major highway etc. Don't know who was at fault in this one, sad another person died on our roads, but I wouldn't just jump to the conclusion that the farmer was innocent.

As a farmer that also has to drive semi to haul my grain to market, I really take offence to your comments. EDMONTON city drivers can be some of the stupidest around. There I can talk like you too. Truth is there are poor drivers in everywhere and in every aspect of life. But no one admits to being a poor driver because everyone else on the road seems to be a poor driver instead. Doesn’t help that the highways are twice as busy as they were 10 years ago.

I agree with tougher penalties for bad driving and unsafe equipment but those will have to be extended to passenger vehicles as well. There are a lot of passenger vehicles on the road that are unsafe and I also think it’s time that RVs should really get cracked down on. There are some people out there pulling RVs that defiantly shouldn’t be and plenty of way overloaded half ton trucks.

I personally think in order to get your drivers license that you should have to drive a semi around for a couple of days with an instructor. It would change a lot of people’s perspective as it’s not as easy as the armchair quarterbacks seem to think. I agree that there are some new semi drivers out there that make me wonder how they got their license. I was fortunate that I went to a good local driving instructor before I got my class one. I learned a lot more about safe driving from him than in my high school drivers ed.

Being a farmer that also has to move my big equipment down the highway I can tell you it’s about as stressful as it gets. In my eyes I have seen some really stupid things out of car drivers too. If I had a choice I wouldn’t move down a hwy at all but I have to. There are times I drive an extra 5 miles of gravel roads just to avoid certain small sections of hwy. All the flashing lights and signals in the world don’t seem to register with some people what is going on. It has gotten to the point that I have to stop completely or take up the whole hwy so that people do not pass me while I’m making a left hand turn as they don’t watch the signal lights. I do my best not to pull out in front of someone but it also takes awhile to get that equipment up to speed. I am sorry if I ever held you up but don’t try and hurt us both in the process of trying to save a couple minutes by getting around me. Also if you meet a big piece of equipment on the hwy, SLOW DOWN and give us room to get by. Courtesy works two ways.

I have to agree with IL Bar on this.

Many drivers are literally oblivious to their own destination.

Slow 'ME' down? be damned with you!

Cycling is faster than Walking, Driving is etc. etc.

Death happens because people do it to each other.

No war needed.

I like milk.

This is typical of internet discussions. I did not say EVERY farmer, nor every semi driver was bad at their jobs, poor drivers or unsafe. What I did say is there are a big enough percentage of bad drivers in both groups that you can't just assume it was the semi driver that was at fault.

When I was young, I drove Class 1 and 2 for 10 years. I spent 4 years driving Edmonton ETS bus. I have driven more than 4 million of miles in my total driving career. I have never had an at fault accident or not at fault and have had one moving violation. There are LOTS of people just like me. WE are however no longer the majority and need to watch out even closer for the ones that got their license from a cracker jack box or bribed the issuer.

Very sad someone lost their life here.. Until the investigation is complete, speculation on fault is mute really...

IMO though, any "unit" which is not designed / registered for highway use should have mandatory pilot trucks with experienced drivers for transport.

Just watched a semi driver on Deerfoot tailgating a small car doing 110 (middle lane)....just before the 17th Ave SE construction zone...nailed the brakes, just missing three cars...I hear the old "we're professional drivers" line all the time...PD or not, there is no excuse for that kind of driving.

I started my truck driving carrier herding a White 4000 down the highway.
The year was 1974 and i was 20 years old.
It was a gravel truck and my first job as a driver. I was hauling asphalt to a paver resurfacing highway 2 from Edmonton to Nisku.

I had driven various trucks back on the farm but never a loaded truck on highway.

That was the only training available back then, and companies were very picky about who they hired. You needed a clean record and at least a few years of experience before you had even a chance at getting on with a trucking company, unless you had connections.

You got that experience working as a swamper or driving a tandem on some construction job where most the driving was off road. My farm experience qualified me, for an entry level driving job.

Many drivers died in the learning process, others gave up and found other work. It wasn't a good system but it was all we had.

It seems to me that the biggest difference between then and now is that the demand for drivers is so high that many companies will hire drivers who have never driven anything bigger then a smart car.

Sure there are driving schools, some run by people who have never earned a single paycheck behind the wheal of a semi. Other are run by people who seem to think everything is for sale.

All to often that is how it goes when the gooberment decides they need to teach the rest of us something, they hire those who are best at glad handing, not those who are best at doing.

Given enough time, they will figure out what they need to know, but for now, lives will be lost, and licensed drivers blamed.

The system is never at fault, even though the system determined that that driver was safe and competent. That is just the way it is.

I drove as a profesional for over forty years, and I came from a farm background and am still very much involved in farming. In fact as I write this, I'm waiting on a phone call to go cut hay for a local farmer.

Having said that, I agree with what you say.

When I got into truck driving, we had to work hard to earn our way into the cab of a big rig, so it meant something to us.

It's a thousand times easier to get into that seat these days and it needs to be even harder then it was years ago.

But the problem isn't just commercial drivers. I see a severe dumbing down of the non commercial drivers too.

Add to that the almost total lack of highway law enforcement and I find it a wonder that a lot more people aren't dying on our highways.

I can only attribute it to the improvements made to our road systems and to the safety features built into modern vehicles.
It certainly isn't due to better drivers on our roads.

Something else for you older truckers to realize, is that the highest rates for casualties on our highways are senior citizens. Statistics show that old drivers are more frequently involved in fatal collisions and now the majority of our truckers are in that age group.
New, young drivers aren't really the problem, its the elderly involved more often than not. That percentage of the population in now the majority, and its going to get bad soon.
Add in the fact so many younger drivers are now following their parents foot steps, and choosing to ignore some laws because that's OK. Mom, Dad and Grandparents have been rolling stops for decades.
Heck the drivers in Red Deer are now running left turns on red lights now. Its a big crap shoot driving now. Is it a senior citizen, a stolen vehicle, or a rushing heavy hauler that's going to get you at an intersection.

Also should mention that rural intersections are the worst so don't brag that farmers are among the best. We live alongside the Innisfail Auction, and see just how many idiots are driving with farm plates.

Really what about all the texting younger / middle age crowd.
I see that as a way bigger wide spread problem.

For trucker, well Im not going to get into that but oddly enough in the last few years a more and more truckers are lets say a new breed of driver.

I call Bull Poop. If older drivers were the problem we would have the higher insurance premiums, not the 30 and unders. On top of that show me any large group of under 40s with zero accidents and only one or two moving violations form 16 to now. When and if I ever have my first accident I will re-evaluate whether I should be driving or not. I know for damn sure better than 50% of the under 25s I know should not have a licenses based on their driving and accident records.

Please show us the stats you quote

Did you see him gain on the small car and tailgate OR did you see a semi close to a car that came into the zone he may have left himself to stop more safely. As a commercial driver I have it happen to me every day . . . leave myself a safe stopping zone in front of me and it fills up with other vehicles that can't have another 10-20 seconds added to their daily drive.

I’ll bet that you are right on the money geezer. They are probably also the same people that absolutely have to pull out in front of a semi no matter how hard the semi has to step on the brakes to avoid them instead of waiting 5 seconds for the truck to pass.

Pretty much a factless personal generalization you have there methinks. Is there any good data around that even indicates that seniors are causing most of the road havoc and passing their bad habits on to the younger generation? It seems that Insurance stats don't support that theory.