June 2014 Volume 34, Issue 6
TRUCK NEWS Canada’s Trucking Newspaper Since 1981
Picking up the pieces
Delivering daily news at trucknews.com
Page 42
Focus on wellness
Adam Lowry saw his truck as an opportunity to build a life. Another man saw it as an opportunity to end his.
Um none officip sapero commoditat
Speedy Transport has hired a wellness advisor. Will this role become a trucking mainstay? Page 44
By James Menzies
Young leaders
Oshawa, Ont. • When Adam Lowry
pulled back the curtains of his bunk on the morning of April 18, there was nothing to indicate this would be the day everything changed. It was Good Friday, a cool but pleasant spring day and considering the winter Ontario had just endured, no one would complain. Lowry awoke in his truck at the Fifth Wheel Truck Stop in Bowmanville, having delivered a load in Pickering the night before. He did his pre-trip and headed to the village of Havelock, about 90 kilometres east, where he picked up a load destined for Alabama. Lowry was about to embark on one of his longer runs, which would keep him out on the road for four to six weeks. Coming back through Bowmanville, Lowry noticed the westbound scales were unstaffed, so he took advantage of the opportunity to check his axle weights. The CAT scales now cost about $15, so he uses the government-funded weigh scales whenever possible. Lowry returned to the Fifth Wheel in Bowmanville, faxed in his paperwork and had lunch. He would later wonder if all these small decisions he made throughout the day had somehow conspired to put him in the worst place at the worst possible time. Leaving Bowmanville around 5 p.m., the Easter Weekend traffic thickened with travellers merging on and off the 401. Lowry stuck to the centre lane to avoid interactions with the car traffic. As he approached the Ritson St. exit he Continued on page 18
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Next-generation freight brokers gather to discuss where they think the industry’s headed. Page 50
King of the hills
Judges evaluate the performance of a driver competing in the driving championships. Regional, provincial and national competitions will be held this summer and fall.
Game on
Some of Ontario’s best truck drivers prepare to compete in regional and provincial championships
We pull some heavy-duty loads behind the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado HD. Page 52
Focusing on the trailer If the industry wants to realize further aerodynamic enhancements, it must turn its attention to the trailer.
By Sonia Straface with files from Carolyn Gruske
D
rivers, start your engines! The start to the Ontario Truck Driving Championships (OTDC) is just about a month away and though it’s not all about speed, a great deal of skill and discipline are needed to walk away with the big trophy at the end of the weekend. For the uninitiated, the Truck Driving Championships is equivalent to the Olympics in the trucking world. The best drivers from the best fleets go head-to-head in a series of events at a regional and then (if they qualify) provincial level – ultimately going to the national championships to go up against the best in the country. Competitors face off in three separate events at these championships: A written test consisting of 50 questions regarding the rules of the road; a pre-trip vehicle inspection where in eight minutes, while being watched by an MTO officer, they need to identify five planted defects; and negotiating a series of driving obstacles, such as backing into an alley dock with only a set number of inches of clearance. The events are completely run by volunteers who participate out of their passion for the event. And who wouldn’t want to volunteer during a (hopefully) hot and sunny July weekend where a little friendly competition is in the air? Like all major sports or discipline-based competition, the
Truck Driving Championships have a specific set of rules all participants must adhere to in order to compete. All competitors in the championships must be full-time drivers and must be accident-free for the 12 months preceding the date of the competition. No competitor is allowed to use his or her own truck. Instead, the trucks used at the event are donated to ensure each participant is on an even playing ground. “It could be said that maybe the person driving their own vehicle, or a vehicle identical to what they drive would have a slight advantage,” said Donald R. Danbrook, treasurer and events co-ordinator for the central Ontario regional event. “The advantage could be as simple as steering. Everybody’s got the same opportunity; they’ve never driven (these) tractors before.” Michele Joslin, chair of the Toronto regional championships, agrees that these trucks create fairness, but she also added, “It’s a tight course. So the course needs to be set up according to the truck.” The championships divide the vehicles up into five classes: straight truck, single-axle tractor with a single-axle trailer (single-single), single-axle tractor with a tandem trailer (single-tandem), tandem-tandem, and B-trains to ensure the biggest crosssection of professional truck drivers can compete. All events are Continued on page 40
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