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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK... BY JOHN WHITE
VOLUME 21, ISSUE 04 OF 11
PUBLISHER/EDITOR John White john@ptmag.ca PRODUCTION/CIRCULATION Tori Proudley tori@ptmag.ca ADMINISTRATION Donna White donna@ptmag.ca ADVERTISING/MARKETING John White john@ptmag.ca Tori Proudley tori@ptmag.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Madill • Scott Casey • Cyn Tobin Greg Evasiuk • Dale Howard Ed Murdoch • Colin Black • David Rusk Bill Weatherstone • Lane Kranenburg PHOTOGRAPHY Ben Proudley David Benjatschek wowtrucks.com HEAD OFFICE Phone: 604-580-2092 Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc., The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees to protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or inaccurate statements; the unauthorized use of materials or photographs; and/or any other errors or omissions in connection with advertisements placed in Pro-Trucker Magazine. The publisher can and will refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading or in poor taste. The publisher does not endorse or make claim or guarantee the validity or accuracy of any advertisement herein contained. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editing at the publisher’s discretion. The act of mailing or e-mailing material shall be considered an expressed warranty by the contributor that the material is original and in no way an infringement on the rights of others.
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On April 26th Federal Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, François-Philippe Champagne, along with BC Premier John Horgan, and Langley Mayor Jack Froese, announced a $235.5 mil-lion joint funding to add an HOV lane in each direction on Hwy 1 between 216th street and 264th street. This will include a new interchange at 232nd Street and new underpasses at both Glover Road and the CP Rail crossing. This expansion has been desperately needed for many years now. The former B.C. Liberal Gov-ernment first announced this project in March of 2017 but in typical political fashion they dan-gled the old, “If you vote us back in, we will do this…” carrot to voters just before the provincial election. It was subsequently put on hold when the NDP and the Green Party formed a new coa-lition government two months later. Just to show that two can play the same political carrot game the NDP has said that construction will not start until 2021 which is – yes, you guessed it - after the next provincial election. Com-pletion of the project is now slated for 2025. The Liberal’s original promise was to widen the highway to Whatcom Road in Abbotsford but the NDP have reduced that to the first 10 kilometres. While this will help with the congestion around Langley and 264th Street, in reality, it is only pushing the bottleneck 10 kilometres far-ther down the road. It does nothing for the backlog that often extends westbound well past both Abbotsford and Chilliwack. ICBC reports that the number of accidents on Hwy 1 between Langley and Chilliwack has dou-bled in 2 years. On Hwy 1 from 232nd Street to Annis Road in Chilliwack, the number of acci-dents went from 510 in 2015 to 1,100 in 2017. A total of 790 people were injured on the high-way between Langley and Chilliwack in 2017. Included in the new proposal is a truck parking lot near Highways 1 and 17. This lot will hold up to 150 commercial trucks and 45 passenger vehicles. While any additional truck parking is wel-come news when you consider that approximately 9,000 trucks pass that interchange every day, and electronic logging devices are just around the corner, 150 spots would hardly put a dent in what is needed for out of town drivers today let alone in 2025. There is also a problem with combining passenger vehicles with truck parking lots. What inevita-bly happens, as can be seen at truck parking lots like Nordel Truck Parking, is spots intended for out of town trucks who are out of hours or have a layover, are often taken over by local truck drivers who park their trucks in the lots at night and leave their cars there during the day. With minimal truck stop parking in the valley, and parking at weigh scales and on streets being illegal, when ELD’s do becomes mandatory, the problem will increase ten-fold as drivers will have even less leeway to find parking while staying within their hours of service. If you are not depressed enough yet then check out Cynthia Tobin’s article on page 26 concern-ing the problems she recently had finding parking in Ontario. It seems that BC is not the only place where common sense has taken a holiday.
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thank you to those who make the miles count Siemens Transportation Group Inc.
In honour of North American Occupational Health and Safety Week, we would like to extend a Thank You to our Employees/Contractors for making safety the number one priority. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our staff on receiving Safe Driving and Health and Safety Awards. It is our policy to perform work in the safest manner possible. As a company, we strive to raise health and safety awareness by educating our Employees and Contractors through our top quality health and safety program. To find out how you can become part of our team, contact us at 1.888.878.9585 or email driver.recruitment@siemenstransport.com. Courier - Van - Flat Deck - Heavy Haul
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LETTERS to the EDITOR
e Whit John azine
ag ker M c u r T Proite
John Wh Magazine Pro-Trucker
Hello John, It’s been a while since I made time to share my thoughts with you. A year ago I was offered the opportunity to get out of the truck and take a position where I could share my expertise and skills to mentor the rest of our drivers and look after the fleet. At the time this was presented, little did anyone know that 2 weeks later we would hear of a horrific incident at a rural intersection in Saskatchewan. The owner of our company realized a void in the training and fleet control in his growing company. His thoughts were to be a ‘step above’ the rest of the industry. So, for the last year, I have been monitoring equipment repairs, coaching and training drivers and observing human nature. While we don’t hire ‘new’ drivers ( minimum 2 yrs. ) almost all our drivers are coming to us with no experience in Auto haulage. Our turnover has been low, but due to growth we have had to hire four new drivers. While this doesn’t sound like a lot to many people, each driver gets at least two weeks of hands-on training with me before they are released on their own. After this I am constantly showing up to mentor them with loading & route planning, ELD monitoring and sometimes I go back on the road with them again to monitor their improvement. We also monitor through GPS daily until we are sure they are able to make their own decisions. For the most part, each new driver can’t shake me for the first month. For the drivers that are here more than a year, I’ve done everything the same as the new guys, except for the ‘ride checks’. Due to the number of things that had to be addressed, it takes time to get all the ‘ducks’ lined up. What is all this rambling about? Well, human nature is an incredible thing and through the last year I have realized that ‘mentoring’ takes time and lots of patience. Most of our crew is in their ‘40’s and like so many other fleets, our units ‘hour out’ every weekend. The stress everyone puts on themselves to get as much done, in as little time as possible is dramatic. Trying to help people change their way of thinking or change a habit is taxing. Example; the most direct route is the shortest- when loading, a good pattern uses the least amount of walking around the unit. BUT once someone has their own pattern -changing is a major feat. Then panic mode sets in to get going. While training ‘new’ people it is extremely difficult to shake the ‘google’ planning mindset. Most of these people can’t function without an address to get to mAy 2019
a location. This happens even when the address is used regularly. Trip planning is laughed at ( only for old guys ) - Google tells all. So it is up to me to make their Google routing ‘fail’. I purposely set up a situation where I know ‘Google’ can’t compute. For us height is a major issue as well as truck routes and where to park on arrival at a customer. NO - truck GPS doesn’t work either all the time. We have to plan a route without overhanging trees, low bridges or signs, tight corners ( we can’t jackknife) or weight restrictions. Observation: because most of these people have had electronics do their thinking for them, they haven’t developed their brain to retain things and deductive reasoning is lacking. A repetitive action should produce a similar response - but not if we keep relying on a computer to store information. To add to this is the resistance to accepting the help from an ‘old’ guy. It’s better than it was a year ago, but changing human patterns is a study and mentoring a task that definitely TRUCK BODY requires a lot of tact. Just because I’ve done this job for 20+ years and driven for 45 years doesn’t mean I know much. That’s the view from here. BUSINESS LIFT YOUR Ron Spring TO A NEW LEVEL! Fleet Supervisor Editor’s note: Good to hear from you Ron, (Ron was a Rig of the Month in 2015) I’m happy to see that you are putting
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your years of experience to good use by mentoring new drivers. You can’t blame the younger drivers for depending on Google – they have grown up in a totally different era. GPS is a great tool, but that being said, one has to wonder what would happen to if all the satellites were to stop functioning at the same time. Hi John I live in Whitehorse with my wife. Scaled back my operation to one dump truck that I operate in the summer. I fill in other times with my pilot car. I own some shops that I rent out to various small operators and try to live a quiet boring life, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. I haven’t seen many stories from the Yukon so I decided to end the drought. This fella was a popular well liked Yukoner. Have to admit that I shed a couple of tears building this story. I was driving by the Whitehorse courthouse the other day and it made me remember a warm sunny day in 1985 in Inuvik. A customer came into my auto parts store to buy a gizmo he was looking for. I presumed he was just another dumb truck driver. (I’m a truck driver, I’m allowed to say that.) Before he purchased the gizmo, he said my store had a lot of neat things that seemed to be priced a little better than Whitehorse, so he was going to look around for a few minutes to see if there was anything else he might need.
“So, you’re from the Yukon”? I asked. “Yes, I just hauled up a load of freight and now I’m headed back to Whitehorse,” he replied. When he said he was from the Yukon, it reminded me about a political news item from the Yukon, which must have been a major news story for us to hear about it on the other side of the mountain. I asked him if he knew about the news article. “Yes,” he replied, he knew about it. He then filled me in with the precise details, as if the story had happened to him. I didn’t expect such a thorough explanation from a truck driver. “How come you know so much about this story?” I asked. “I’m an MLA in the Yukon legislature,” he replied. I didn’t think I heard him right, “Do you mean you are an elected politician?” I asked. He then told me he had been a cabinet minister in the Yukon government. Being fairly young, this guy made an impression on me - a real politician that actually does real work. I asked him a few more dumb questions, and then he was on his way. He had left me with a view that was upbeat and optimistic. About a half hour later, I went to the plumbing shop on the south side of town. Just as I came out of the plumbing shop, my new found friend passed by on the highway. We gave each other a big ole wave. Over the rest of the day, I told some of my customers the upbeat story about my political friend with a real job. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell my rosy story for long.
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The next morning around 10:00 AM, I got the bad news. The Dempster highway near James creek had developed a sinkhole. As he was driving, the sun was shining in my new friend’s eyes and he crashed into the sinkhole and was killed. After the shock wore off, I realized that I was likely one of the last people to see him alive. I think that almost everyone who was living in the Yukon at that time has probably figured out that I am writing about Andy Philpsen, and of course, the courthouse is named after him. In my younger years, I thought that to be a privileged person, you would have to be born into money or have made it big somehow. Today after some thought, I would bet that most Yukoners who knew Andy would say I was privileged that day when I got the opportunity to wave to Andy one last time. Carey Marshall Whitehorse John, I grew up in Ontario in a small town called Omemee. Got my class 1 when I was 19 and got as much seat time as I could, did many trips down the 401 to the GTA. When I was 23 I took everything I owned and my experience and moved to Lethbridge Alberta. I now run a lot more heavy equipment, and also running the low boy moving equipment around. I love seeing pictures people take from may 2019
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on the road, sometimes you get the best pictures from oMMUnIcATIon just random people that thought that moment was worth a picture. By Greg Evasiuk I’m sending you this photo I took the other day because Greg is a third generation trucker I’ve always wanted to see one of the pictures I take on the with over a million miles and 20 road end up in a magazine, calendar or whatever. It may plus years in trucking. be a long shot but it’s worth the shot. Anyways, thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing Energy back from you. Ok, so by titling this piece energy, eyes might roll with Jesse Cameron a, “Here we go again Greg’s gonna lecture us on the state Lethbridge of the energy industry!” Believe me, I like writing about Editor’s note: Nice picture Jesse. FYI - you can always post what’s going on in that arena but there is sooo much more to energy than Oil and Gas. This also isn’t some preachy pictures to our Facebook page too. piece about switching to electric, wind, solar, unicorn farts ***** or whatever the green energy of the day is! All of that A couple drove their car to Wal-Mart, only to have it is discussed and debated every day online and trying to break down in the parking lot. The man told his wife to follow it all can be exhausting… possibly a waste of energy. go shopping while he fixed the car in the lot. The wife What I want to talk about here is the power of positive returned later to see a small group of people near the car. and negative energy. The effects of positive energy can be On closer inspection, she saw a pair of male legs protruding seen and measured in your life. You can build up enough from under the chassis. The man was in shorts but his energy that it can even affect other people’s lives close to lack of underwear turned private parts into public ones. you and it can even snowball into affecting those you don’t Embarrassed, she stepped forward and quickly tucked know. Negative thoughts and energy though work the same everything back into place. On standing up she found way too. Think of it like when you come in from a great herself staring at her husband who was standing idly by. run, you’ve made more than normal, your truck ran perfect The mechanic, however, had to have three stitches in his and there were no snags, then you sit down at the coffee forehead… shop. The guy next to you has recently had a run to actual hell and back, he didn’t get paid at all, trucking is terrible, the DOT is out to get truckers, the government is bad… I like to use trucking analogies and thankfully I write for a trucking magazine so it’s encouraged! Think of your personal energy as a fully loaded super-b sitting at the top of the Smasher. Now if you take the brakes off and let it roll 10 feet, hit the brakes again it stops. Same goes if you let in run 30 or 40 feet it will be easy to coral and if you Phone: 403.278.1129 • Fax: 403.278.8307 put it in the right gear with the jakes on you can control it Email: marilynt@diamondinsurance.ca all the way down safely through the snow shed and out to www.diamondinsurance.ca the beach. Now if you pop that yellow button and just let it go… soon enough you’re careening past the runaway lane. No amount of brakes will stop it and good luck matching the revs and getting it into gear, it has too much momentum and will soon be crashing into everything in its path. That b-train is like a negative thought or negative reaction, it starts rolling in your brain and when it does you have a short period of time to say whoa. If that negativity is there and will be rolling you can hold it back by selecting a lower gear (minimizing its importance) and eventually MARILYN TAYLOR IS OUR COMMERCIAL you’ll reach the bottom and it will go away. If you let it TRUCKING SPECIALIST! gather momentum it becomes harder and harder to stop Marilyn has over 30 years and you will eventually crash and take other people down experience in providing with you. insurance for Owner Operators When you’re on the road or in life you will run into & fleet transport companies negativity and sometimes it will come from inside. The operating in Canada & the U.S.A. key to staying positive is to stop the thought early, I like
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What are you really making? Smoke and mirrors doesn’t pay the bills. Your take-home pay and how you are treated is what really matters. Talk to us – we are family and have no “surprise” hidden charges.
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Contact Margaret or Johnny Phone: 604-535-1825 or Email: spady@telus.net #159 – 17735 1st Ave, Surrey, BC, V3Z 9S1
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to simply say to myself “whoops not going there”. Those words are my brakes and I’m pretty good at using them but if I’m already past the point of stopping I gear down by a playlist I have on my phone. I won’t tell you what the songs are for fear of losing my man card but I will tell you they’re songs that make me smile. My runaway lane is to think of my kids, my wife or my pup (provided they aren’t what ticked me off!) I have memories with all of them that can instantly take me to a better place. These are suggestions and they work for me. They’ve worked well enough that most of my thoughts are positive. When I’m in that frame of mind I just kick the brakes off and let ‘er roll! When you build up positive momentum things just seem to go your way and/or you can’t notice the little negatives because you’re flying towards a huge pile-up of opportunities! *****
I Wish To Live Forever
I met a magical fairy yesterday who said she would grant me one wish. “I wish to live forever,” I said. “Sorry,” said the fairy, “That is the only wish that I’m not allowed to grant.” “Fine,” I said, “then I want to die the day after parliament is filled with honest, hard-working, bipartisan men and women who act only in the people’s best interests!” “You crafty little bugger,” replied the fairy.
reFLecTIons ThrU My WIndshIeLd By Dave Madill Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores.
The Flood I unloaded on the docks down in New Orleans and then headed north to pick up a load of peat before continuing on to Ontario and home. It was raining cats and dogs at the time and all I could get on the radio was warnings about a hurricane that was headed for the coast, so I was quite pleased to be headed north. I was on a little two-lane road off the interstate and I was really taking it easy because of the storm. I made it to a little town where I was to pick up and thankfully the yard was right at the start of town so I pulled into their yard, lined up with the shipping doors, and parked for the night. I was up bright and early the next morning and noticed that right across the road was a little Mom and Pop Diner. It was just opening up so I walked across for breakfast. I had a great meal and the guys from the plant were all in there having breakfast too so I got to meet with them before the plant opened. I went back to the truck and they opened the doors right at 7:00 so I backed in and they started loading. These guys knew their job and bagged, stacked, and loaded by 10:00
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with all the paperwork signed sealed and delivered. I talked to their truck driver and he advised me to stay on the 2-lane for another 30 miles instead of heading back south and then I would hit the Interstate and have a straight shot for home. I took their advice and stayed on the 2-lane but man it was raining and I was down to about 30 to 40 MPH but it was quiet and the road was in fair shape so I was not too worried. The road took a long S turn and right in the middle was a bridge. As I came up to it I noticed that the stream was flooded and the approach and exit on the bridge were covered but it still looked like I would have no problem. I slowed right down, turned on my overhead strobe lights, and proceeded across. The water on the entrance was only a couple of inches deep and the bridge deck was clear so there was no problem but on the other side the road sloped down quite a bit and I ended up driving through about two feet of water for about 100 feet before getting back on “dry “ land. I had just pulled onto dry land when I looked in the mirror and saw a pickup crossing the bridge at well over 30MPH and I just knew this was not going to turn out well. The truck hit the deeper water, spray flew in all directions and before it reached dry land the engine quit and the truck came to a sudden stop. I anchored the rig, hopped out and went running back to find a young lady with a 2-year-old child in the truck and she was in the first stage of labour. I grabbed the kid and waded him to dry land and went back for the lady. I managed to carry her through about 20 feet of flood and got her back to my rig. Not a minute later a car pulled up from our side of the water
and after talking to the driver he turned around, loaded lady and child on board and headed back up the road to a hospital which was only about 5 miles away. Because of the flooding, I stayed to block the road and about half an hour later a Deputy Sheriff showed up and we blocked the road with barriers. Looking back at the pickup he asked if I had a chain and could pull the truck out to dry land as the water was still rising and the pickup would have been ruined if it was left where it was. I backed my trailer almost all the way back to the truck and he chained it up and I yanked the truck on to dry land and about ¼ of a mile up the road to where it would be safe. Deputy informed me that the road up to the Interstate was fine but that the Interstate was closed in both directions. I proceeded up to the intersection to a very nice little truck stop in a nice friendly little town. About an hour later I was informed that the young ladies truck had been towed into town and she had had a little girl which she had named Rachel after the name of the hurricane. Seeing as Rachel is also my Mother’s name I was quite impressed. Next morning dawned fairly clear and the roads were all open and from there it was a straight trip to my delivery and home. It was about a year later that I got another load of peat from the same plant and I stopped at the little truck stop and found out the young lady who was pregnant had lost her husband about 4 months before giving birth but that she now was married to the Deputy that had helped me pull her truck from
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the water. Sometimes our loads lead us into strange places and strange circumstances where we meet people that we never forget. ***** An air traffic control tower suddenly lost communication with a small twin engine aircraft! A moment later the tower land line rang and was answered by one of the controllers. The passenger riding with the pilot who lost communications was on a cellular phone! He yelled, “Mayday, mayday! The pilot had an instant and fatal heart attack! I grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and he had told me before we took off he had the tower on his speed dial memory! I am flying upside down at 18,000 feet and traveling at 180 mph! Mayday, mayday!” The controller in the tower immediately put him on speaker phone! “Calm down, we acknowledge you and we’ll guide you down after a few questions! The first thing is not to panic! Remain calm!” He began his series of questions: Tower: “How do you know you are traveling at 18,000 feet?” Aircraft: “I can see that it reads 18,000 feet on the altimeter dial in front of me!” Tower: “Okay, that’s good, remain calm! How do you know you’re traveling at 180 mph?” Aircraft: “I can see that it reads 180 mph on the airspeed dial in front of me!”
Tower: “Okay, this is great so far, but it’s heavily overcast! So how do you know you’re flying upside down?” Aircraft: “The pee in my pants is running out of my shirt collar!!” *****
New Invention
A redneck family from the hills was visiting the city and they were in a shopping mall for the first time in their life. The father and son were strolling around while the wife shopped. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again. The boy asked, “Paw, What’s ‘at?” The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, “Son, I dunno. I ain’t never seen anything like that in my entire life, ain’t got no idea’r what it is.” While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old lady walked up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady walked between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order. Then the walls opened up again and a gorgeous, voluptuous young woman stepped out. The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son, “Boy, go git yo Momma....
Tax included
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
B
erry & Smith Trucking originated in 1954 when Stu Berry and Ted Smith combined resources to form a partnership. Stu had purchased trucks to haul fruit, and Ted bought a fruit truck and a school bus for the Naramata students. In 1958 Berry & Smith Trucking Ltd became official when they incorporated. The company started out as a fruit hauling company and through hard work and strong customer service, Berry & Smith gained a strong reputation for being both customer and service oriented. This resulted in their steady growth. In 1964 Berry & Smith acquired the Penticton school bus contract then in 1968 Berry & Smith purchased Carter brothers, a Penticton company that had operated trucks and school buses for the district. The company continues to operate the school bus contract today 55 years later. In the early 1970s, Berry & Smith purchased its first tractor-trailer, enabling them to transport freight around the valley and expand to larger markets like Vancouver. In 1977, they signed a contract to establish a transit service in Penticton called the Penticton Transit Service Ltd. The company has been fortunate to have continued to operate this service for the 42 years transit service began in Penticton. Original partner, Ted Smith, was also the Naramata Fire Chief who then became a firefighter in Penticton. In 1971 he sold his half of the company to the Berry family and to this day remains a lifelong friend. In 1989 Berry& Smith opened a Burnaby office which was later moved to Delta due to an ever-expanding intermodal market. This office still operates as Berry & Smith’s main intermodal transportation source and gives them the ability to move freight in and out of the west coast’s ports and rail yards in both Canada and the U.S. Berry & Smith is highly respected in the transport
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community operating 100 power units. Their focus is on the Western States and Provinces, offering dry van, flat deck, and intermodal services. They maintain U.S. and Canadian Dangerous Goods and Hazardous Waste transportation licenses as well as memberships with the BC Trucking Association, Washington Trucking Association and the Intermodal Association of North America. Although a lot of changes have taken place at Berry & Smith over the years, what has not changed is their strong service-oriented focus and reputation. The Berry family has always recognized the importance of their employees working together within the company. Many of Berry & Smith’s employees logged over 30 years with the company before retiring; some continue to come back to help out when needed. From the beginning, Berry & Smith has been a family business in the true sense of the word. The Berry kids grew up in the business and were driving trucks at a very young age. Stu retired in 1997 and the company is nowrun by sons, Matt (President) and Mark (Vice President). Berry & Smith’s third generation is also now working in the company. Matt’s son, Parker Berry, who has completed his Business Degree at UBCO, has also obtained his class one and is actively working with the company in a supervisory role including Safety, Dispatch, Human Resources and driving. Matt and Mark’s nephew Kaolin Mallette is their Fleet Maintenance Lead Hand and has his red seal Commercial Transport Mechanic license. Both Parker and Kaolin sit on the company Management Team and, along with Controller Chris Gibbons, represent the younger generation of staff who will help guide the company in future years. Matt Berry proudly says, “What is key with our company is our staff. They do a fantastic job in looking after the customer and we are honoured to work with each and every one of them.”
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mAy 2019
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
HIRING Owner Operators To run Canada & USA
Good driving record • Good condition tractor • Cross border capability • Customer service focus
• Fuel Cap of 47 cents per litre
• Scales/tolls/faxes paid
• Fuel performance pay program
• Group insurance
• Late model tractor
• Fuel cards supplied
• Direct deposit, paid twice monthly
• $500 sign on bonus
• Fast cards and passports preferred
• Home most weekends
• No cost satellite communication system
• Paid pick ups and drops
• Insurance/license subsidy is upto 50%,
• All miles paid/practical miles
equal monthly payments, no interest
• Stable company in business over 60 years
• Safety bonus paid quarterly
Please call Dina or Mark at 1-800-663-2339 or fax resumes to 1-866-492 -7644 dinae@berryandsmith.com
Join our winning team. mAy 2019
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
Rig of the Month By Greg Evasiuk
I’m presuming that our rig of the month owner needs Peterbilt, not his wife!) Many of you know him as I do as little introduction. If you’ve been around Alberta Big Rig Todd from ALC. I had to think hard to remember that ‘from Weekend you’ve surely seen him and Roxanne (that’s his ALC’ was not in fact his last name. (It’s Woitas.) Alberta
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Includes 8 Hrs Labour, New Clutch, Flywheel Grind, New Pilot Bearing &Clutch Brake
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NEW WESTMINSTER
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SURREY/PORT KELLS
mAy 2019
Large Cars (ALC) is the group he started on Facebook which has grown into a community of like-minded truckers who support one another and do some amazing events for charity. He likes to give back to the community and is a great example of the type of person we need in trucking but he very easily could have had a different career. Todd was born in Edmonton on July 18, 1971, his dad was a floor layer by trade and his mom cleaned houses. He had a few uncles that were truckers but he was far from growing up around the industry. Now thankfully this isn’t a court document because our timelines aren’t exact but we have figured that Todd spent somewhere between 6 and 7 years working in flooring with his dad and got his first taste of trucking in the early ‘90s. After figuring out that he wasn’t going to follow in his dad’s footsteps, Todd had a job washing trucks and trailers at Mid Continental Bulk Systems (which later became part of RBS). It was his first time working around trucks and he soon got to what you might call driving experience. The yard donkey was a primo early Ford Louisville with a tired 427 gas pot on propane, not exactly a truckers dream but for a kid just getting a taste of moving rigs, Todd thought it was pretty sweet. He got to hook up, drive around the yard, learn to back up and of course how to get stuck. It was about 4 in the afternoon and Todd decided to put the old Louie to the test by dragging a set of trailers through the soft spot in the middle of the yard. Being chained up he figured the old girl would have no problem with a little mud but he soon understood why there were no other tracks through that spot. After trying to back out and trying to go forward and back again, the tired old truck was up to its axles and its hopeless pilot thoroughly embarrassed. “Just go home Todd, just go home and come back tomorrow,” his boss said after seeing the mess. He retreated home wondering if he would even have a job in the morning. The next day Todd arrived back at the Mid-Con shop to find his trusty ole Ford was freed from grips of the muddy hole in the yard. It had taken his boss and some of the seasoned hands until 9 pm to get it out! Thankfully though they had a job for him, the job of washing the frozen mud and clay from between the wheels and frame rails of the yard donkey. It was a lesson that seems to still be fresh in Todd’s mind even though it was 30 years ago! If you ever take a look inside Roxanne’s frame rails you’ll find them to be squeaky clean even though there’s no boss telling him to rewash it if it’s not!
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
Kelly (15), Haylee (20), Ramona, Todd
may 2019
After leaving Mid-con, Todd bounced around on the docks at Central and Truck-all depots for a few years hustling freight and learning a fair bit about the whole LTL business. He then jumped over to FH Maintenance and helped twisting wrenches and servicing trucks for a while. This time in the shop helped teach him a lot of great skills he never knew he’d need later on. For one reason or another Todd left the trucking community altogether for a while and went to work for Carrington Properties building houses. Around 1994 housebuilding slowed down and he went back to Central Carriers but this time for his first driving job. This first job was a bit of a baptism by fire as his route was downtown Edmonton P & D. Anyone who has made drops there knows how much fun that must have been, narrow alleys, blind driveways to back into and of course the traffic. After two years of that with Central, Todd decided to make a switch to a different job with Northwest Carriers. Now, like you, I presumed he would tell me that he left to hit the open road, I was wrong, our friend spent another three years at Northwest in downtown Edmonton! My hats off to you Todd and any other guys out there doing inner-city work.
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
For me, that’s the trucking equivalent of getting back from an overseas mission and signing back up for another tour of duty! In 1999 Todd decided to break free from the confines of the city and went to drive for Sokil Transport. He generally ran an out and back steel run from Edmonton through eastern Alberta up through western Saskatchewan to Meadow Lake and back. It was a pretty nice little regional run that allowed Todd to make it back home most nights and for the weekends. One snowy afternoon after making his stop in Meadow Lake Todd made the call to his customer in Lac La Biche who was to be his last drop on the way home. It had been an absolute blizzard all day and he was running too late for the customer to stick around to unload. I’m sure being an almost newlywed had nothing to do with it but Todd wanted to get back home to Ramona that night so he called and told the customer he could drop the piece on his own and slide it under the gate. With that agreed on, he fought his way through the snow from Saskatchewan back to LLB. Now the tires on the truck were described to me as smoother than a baby’s behind and the truck had no chains on it or even a place to hang them. The condition of the tires wasn’t a big deal to the maintenance manager as the trucks heading out west obviously would need the new tires first and the more local guys would get them… later. Todd actually managed to make it to his customer out by the airport in Lac La Biche and jackknifed into the driveway so he could
unstrap and slide the steel piece off the back of his trailer and under the locked gate. It even worked out perfect when he tossed the box of hardware with the signed BOL over the fence and it landed smack in the middle of the plate so it wouldn’t be lost in the snow. Yup things were looking up he was heading home, hop into the truck slam the door and the old Volvo slid straight sideways 3 feet into the ditch! After a not so helpful call to dispatch and a call to the local tow company, Todd figured he better give Ramona a call and let her know he wouldn’t be rollin’ in anytime too soon. I wish I could have coached him on this one because answering the where are you question while in the ditch never goes over well! After assuring his bride that he was ok, save for the emotional trauma of going into the ditch at a complete stop, Todd was able to get a tug from the tow truck and start the slow journey home. It wasn’t long after turning in the receipt for the tow job that some new (recap) drives showed up on the Volvo. I’d like to think the shop manager learned a cheap lesson about having proper tires for the conditions and Mr. Woitas learned a little better how to “share” a mishap with the missus! After 3 years with Sokil and some highway experience under his belt, Todd went back to the city to run a local tractor with Highway 9. In his time there he got the bug to have his own truck, to become an owner-operator, I’m pretty sure every trucker has the dream at least once in their life.
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
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EMAIL: truckwest@shaw.ca WEBSITE: truckwestcollision.com mAy 2019
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
Most of us dream of having a shiny long hood running up and down the highway with no one but ourselves as the boss and Todd did too. A 1993 FLD 112 with a 3176 Cat and an 8 speed might not get you the magazine cover but for $12,500 and a $600 safety, it was enough to move freight. Todd bought the truck and went in to give his notice at Highway 9 because they only had company trucks so he found a position somewhere else. After hearing the news his manager said: “Give me a day I’ll see what we can do”. The next day Highway 9 hired their first owner-operator. Todd stayed on there until they wanted to change the hourly agreement and cut the rate to the truck when sitting at shippers for extended periods. Knowing that he was about to lose a good chunk of his income he paid a visit to Duckering’s Transport to see if there was something he could do for them. Dan Duckering hired Todd on the spot! He enjoyed his time there and was even driver of the month a few times, an honour that was a little less special given that there weren’t that many drivers “We pretty much got to take turns” I was told. After about 5 years at Duckering’s things were changing and Todd thought he might too. Bill Paul was a family friend and neighbour at the shop where Todd worked on his truck. He had a nice little long hood Peterbilt and there was something Todd just liked about it. He told Bill if you ever want to sell it… well in late 2010 he wanted to. He was selling her with the job hauling Canola oil for Boychuk. When I say nice little Pete I’m referring to
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Hiring Qualified O/Ops & Drivers Drivers 70-80 CENTS PER MILE!
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Call Al 604-882-7623 the wheelbase at 218” it might be the shortest long hood with a bunk around. Todd has a great sense of humour which is good because there seems to be no end to the small/short peter jokes and he just laughs them off. What she lacks in wheelbase she makes up for in heart with a Big Rig Power tuned ISX and heavy spec driveline. It also helps that Todd knew the truck from day one and the owner. So after a brief discussion with Ramona, he got the OK to bring Roxanne home. The little blue FLD went up for sale for $16k and Todd managed to get $14.5k for it! Not a bad deal considering it only ever cost him a turbo and a couple of injectors in over 5 years. He is sore about one thing though and that’s Garfield. Yes, the cartoon cat. The little freight shaker was decked out pretty nice and shiny when it went to its new home on the farm including a little Garfield dog toy on the antenna. The cat had his claws up ready to pounce and a mischievous grin, Todd says he’s never seen the same one again. Anyway, it was a small price to pay to be behind the wheel of Roxanne. I love when trucks or vehicles, in general, have a name, it personifies them and shows they’re cared for. One look at Roxanne and you know she’s well looked after. From the old school paint scheme to the lighting inside and out to the clean pristine interior it’s hard to believe the truck works every day. Like her owner, she’s seen a few different jobs too. Roxanne started out as a tanker-yanker pulling canola oil from Wainwright into Edmonton which is where she was when Todd picked her up. The two of them continued on with that for less than a year but the volume of work wasn’t there. Next, they went to Jones Transportation for a year where Roxanne lost the tanker gear and gained a headache rack. From there she went over to ATL where Todd had her on a good run hauling cable tray down through southern Alberta. After a dispute over the FSC and a couple of other issues, the duo found themselves heading back over to Boychuk. Things were better there and it was looking like they were gonna just stick to Roxanne’s original job until the unthinkable happened. What happened to Todd was something we all wish for, he was rewarded for doing a great job. You see after he left ATL the customers he served noticed a serious drop in service.
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mAy 2019
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
may 2019
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
Enough of a drop that they talked to the supplier Thomas and Betts. The shipper/receiver at T & B knew what the problem was and how to solve it… barely three months into being back on tankers Todd got the call. They asked him for rates and told him to look for a trailer and the rest, as you might say, is history. Seven years now Todd has been pulling that curtainside flying his own colours and never looked back. He’s got a nice regular run hauling what he claims is “heavy” cable tray, I think he was trying to justify the Big Rig Power tune in his truck because I don’t recall tray being all that heavy? Anyway, it only has him spending 2 nights a week in the truck and he’s home weekends. In addition, he’s added value to his customer by hauling their raw materials north from Calgary. It’s a niche built on a relationship and service showing there are customers out there who care about a job well done. Alberta Large Cars started in 2015 while Todd was spending one of his nights on the road in Medicine Hat. He wanted to have a place online to share truck stuff show off pictures of rigs. While chatting with good friend West Cole they bounced names around and most of them had Large Car at the end. “Why not Alberta Large Cars,” Todd said and ALC was born. On June 20, 2015, it started on FaceBook and at first it was just Todd and then West and then other friends. Within a year they formed a group on FaceBook called ALC2 which was to make truckers in the western provinces more of a family. It had road reports, a place to chat and share. What started as a small 30 person group soon had over 1400 members which as you can imagine is a bit much to handle when you also have a day job! For a time Todd had a couple of other people help with Admin for ALC2 which worked until it didn’t. In order to keep ALC2 doing what it was intended for and not sliding into the high school like drama that encompasses social media, Todd once again took over the reins as sole admin of the group, “the rules are simple, no racism, no bashing, no BS or you’re out”. What drew yours truly to ALC it’s what the group and Todd deserve recognition for is their charity work. Todd was quick to remind me that none of this is possible without the help and support of his wife Ramona. Since before they were married in 1997 she has been helping keep him on the right road and still is! The first ALC toy run convoy was a small group of 16 trucks that met outside of the Canadian Tire on the Manning freeway just before Halloween in 2015. Even with next to no advertising the group was able to gather a couple of pallets of toys for Santa’s Anonymous. “People were heading back into the store and bringing gifts over to the trucks, unreal” In 2016 the event was held at Blackjacks and they had 37 trucks, this time donating to the fire victims of Ft. Mac. This was my first convoy and I brought a couple of toys and cruised around with everyone. The outpouring PAGE 22
of support was awesome especially given the poor weather that day. In 2017 and last year the attendance and donations have continued to climb. A couple of paintings done by Tiffany Jorgenson were auctioned of bringing in thousands of dollars as truckers would buy them for upwards of 500 bucks and then donate it back to be auctioned off again. Same goes for some trophies Todd made himself, they are really cool little rigs (which you can find at sicklittlerigs.com) that were auctioned over again just to get the maximum dollar value out of each donation. Todd won’t take credit for the money/toys raised at these events, claims it’s just the quality of people who are showing up there. Days before an event if there is anything needed it’s put out on ALC and the truckers always come through. For the fifth anniversary of ALC, there’s big news coming with a dedicated website being built and new shirts being dropped. “All of the money paid over and above the cost of the shirts will go to a kids’ charity,” Todd told me, “I have a couple in mind but am always open to suggestions. There are so many good causes and it’s just awesome to help the kids” It is awesome and the man deserves some kudos for getting truckers together, for helping showcase the guys and their rigs and for giving. So hats off to you Todd Woitas! Keep doing the hard work and I look forward to writing a piece on 10 Years of Alberta Large Cars!
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mAy 2019
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
NEW OWNER OPERATOR PAY PACKAGE!
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
An Open Letter to our Professional Drivers As Bison Transport celebrates our Golden Anniversary it is truly important for us to give thanks and show our appreciation to all those - past and present – who have grown and shaped us to be who we are today: a recognized brand, a respected fleet, a strong business partner and active leaders in our industry and the communities we live and work in. We especially want to acknowledge and highlight the accomplishments of our team of professional drivers, independent contractors and our maintenance technicians. Your dedication and commitment to safety has set us apart. You are North America’s Safest Fleet and for that we are grateful! I started my journey in trucking as a Driver and I know firsthand that what you do is not easy. Your days are filled with many challenges. We appreciate how you choose to navigate the countless hazards you encounter along the way, sharing the roads with others as if your own family occupied every vehicle you meet. Thank you for caring about yourself, for those with whom you share the roads and for the safe transport of goods we are entrusted with on behalf of our customers. We take great pride in celebrating your achievements, not just at our annual awards but every day as we reach new milestones. We are blessed with having an amazing core of people who have been here for many years. It seems every week we have the privilege of celebrating another company driver or independent contractor reaching 1, 2 and
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even 3 million consecutive safe driving miles with us. Over 25 per cent of our fleet has achieved more than 1 million consecutive safe driving miles or over eight consecutive accident-free years with Bison Transport. You are the heart and soul of our business and it is a proud moment for all of us when we call the teams together on the operations floor to celebrate your accomplishments alongside you. Your words of encouragement to others and your thanks and appreciation to your team provide the real fuel that our business uses as we drive for excellence. There have been many twists in the road and challenges encountered on our journey and we have successfully faced them by working together as a team – a family: One Bison. I hope you feel a sense of pride knowing that what you do and how you do it is what got us here and what will lead us forward. The past 50 years have been exciting but as they say, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Our industry is changing faster than at any point in history. Technology, equipment and customer demands have us moving like never seen before. Where this road leads, none of us really know. What I do know is that we are fortunate to have you on our team and together, we will continue to lead our industry in delivering safe, reliable transportation services to our customers. I am very proud of your accomplishments and extremely grateful for my opportunity to represent you each day! On behalf of our founder, Duncan Jessiman, the Jessiman Family and our executive and management teams, who each hold you in the highest regard, a heartfelt thank you!
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mAy 2019
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
drIVInG ThroUGh My MeMorIes
By Dale Howard Dale Howard has been a Truck Driver, Armoured Truck Driver, and Alberta CVSE. He returned to driving truck and now drives, “The Great Pumpkin.”
Pedestrian and Trucker Safety Summer is getting closer, days are getting warmer, kids are getting out of school, and they are not always thinking or focused on safety. Children, like many of us were at that age, are often fascinated by big trucks, so it is up to us to watch out for them. The statistics are scary; every 7.5 minutes someone is hit by a vehicle in North America over 32,000 are killed in traffic collisions. Of those over 15 % are pedestrians and 76% of those accidents are in urban areas. Over 3,000 people that are killed in accidents involving commercial vehicles each year and 7.6% of them are non-occupants. They are pedestrians, cyclists, skateboarders, etc. Drivers are not immune to being the victim in pedestrian accidents. We all have to pay special attention in truck stop parking lots and customer locations. As drivers, we are not always paying attention either, it is too easy to become distracted checking bills, messing with receipts or just looking at other trucks. Since all of us will be pedestrians
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at some point every day we should do all the things we expect other pedestrians to do - be heads up, phone down, make eye contact with drivers, and wear reflective clothing at night. When I started driving, a driver working for us ran over a homeless man that had ventured under his trailer to retrieve something on the ground. The driver was parked on the street and when he was waved in he moved without checking and the homeless man was killed. It is always best to put on your 4-way flasher’s and tap your horn if you don’t have a backup alarm. While we are on the subject of safety it is easy to get complacent in other areas too. This is not a lecture, just a reminder about simple things that we sometimes don’t think about like the fact that anything loose in the cab is a projectile in the event of an accident. Also for those of us hauling Hazmat, we have to be careful not to take any contamination home. Clothes should be washed separately and special care should be taken with our footwear. Enjoy summer and please stay safe and remember the famous quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, “Do one thing every day that scares you” And the equally famous reply by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, “Just don’t do it while driving. That scares everyone.”
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PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
IdLe TIMe
By Scott Casey Scott, our Rig of The Month for May 2003 has written “Ghostkeepers” a book about his years as a gun toting truck driver while serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia.
Robin’ the Hood Once upon a time in a land not so far away... Each day the town’s folk and those from the outlying farms would bring their horses, oxen, and mules to the local hay bar. The hay bar supplied cow corn, a nice hay blend, and for the racier horses, there were high test oats. They would line up and wait to give their animal transportation its daily fill up of their selected purchase. The items had to be paid for in gold to the Sherriff. A lofty tax it was. Sounds like a tale of years gone by does it not? With fuel prices hitting $1.93.9 this month at many of the pumps in British Columbia, it is a woefully real present-day story. The government has implemented its ingenious Carbon Tax. Another tax that serves no other purpose than to fill government coffers with money from hard-working Canadians. The people of this country are taxed literally to death. (Yes, you pay to die too). We make a wage, and that wage is taxed right off the top. Then you purchase the goods you need to survive like food and water, and those items are also taxed. Then you’re taxed again on the sewer services. Essentially, they are taxing you at both ends. Most Canadians are willing to continue paying taxes, provided that the funds are actually being managed correctly. But it has been proven time and time again that that is not the case. General revenue is wasted on bureaucratic spending, prime ministerial vacations, etc. Tens of millions of tax dollars are given away to other countries. Of course, we also want to be good world stewards, but again, only if its managed correctly. Should our government not take care of things at home before they give our hard earned money away? If you ask the average citizen you’ll get a, “damn right!” Canadians have long grown tired of paying taxes. And that sentiment is only exacerbated by another tax which has no basis, no plan, and no return. If the government actually cut taxes and Canadians had more money in their pockets the tax revenue would go up in kind. If you have more money at the end of the day, PAGE 26
you’ll be more likely to spend some of it. Thus generating tax dollars. Adding another tax on top of the existing ones on fuel does nothing more than anger the people of this country, who, for the most part, based on distance and the lack of public transit to areas outside of the major centers, MUST use fuel burning vehicles for transportation to and from work. I am not one to call for the overthrowing of a government, but is it not high time for a tax revolt at the very least? At what price is the breaking point for Canadians? When does the decision to feed your family take priority over being flogged at the post for not paying more taxes? Because right now, the Sheriff is dipping into your pockets again and again and Robbing the Hood. ***** A four wheeler goes through an intersection and the next thing he knows, there are red and blue lights flashing behind him, so he pulls over. An officer walks up beside his car and says, “You know you didn’t come to a complete stop back there, don’t you?” The guy, already in a hurry, becomes really annoyed. “I slowed down to one mile an hour. There was nothing coming so I went. What’s the big deal?!” The cop tells him to step out of the car and he does. Then, the cop starts hitting him on the head with his billyclub and without missing a beat says, “So, do you want me to slow down or stop?
MILe AFTer MILe By Cyn Tobin Cyn has been driving trucks for 34 years. She has hauled loads all across North America and specializes in expedited perishable freight.
“PLAN AHEAD” we are told. “Give yourself time to find a safe location” we are told. Not only by the companies we work for but also by the very governing bodies that make the rules. The very rules that we as truck drivers are told we MUST follow or face the penalties for failing to do so. Those penalties range from a fine and or a movement suspension to a complete loss of license...then we are forced to break those rules by the very bodies hired to ensure we abide. This tells me and should tell everyone, that there’s a huge problem. First off, I am in Canada. So the rules that govern other countries commercial driving do not apply here. I must abide by the 3 numbers that will make or break my career. 13, 14 and 16. These are the numbers that dictate my Hours of Service guidelines. Any professional knows how to effectively work within these hours despite all the constraints before us that most call regulations. So I planned ahead. I drove for 12 hours. I got to my designated stop location, right on schedule, despite the continual snow squalls, high winds and the constant leapfrog
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game on a single lane highway. There I was, with tomorrow all planned out to arrive at my destination right on time. Only, there’s not a stick of parking for a Prius let alone my Swedish Pete. So I take it into the scale and park off to the side against the back snowbanks. Zero impedance on any possible traffic flow. Further ahead was a container rig parked a bit askew but whatever. As I was doing my logs the scale master bangs on my door. Yes, I am sitting in the seat with lights on. “You can’t park here.” Me, “Why?” Him, “No parking in any Ontario scales” Me, “Okay, well I planned on Kap but it was full so here I am. It’s full. where can I park?” Him, “Not my problem. Plan better” So all other conversation after this point aside, except him explaining in the now presence of a police officer, that commercial vehicles are required to park in designated parking only which does not include weigh scales or any government inspection facilities. That they have the authority to force us to move. So, despite me just driving a full 13 hours with a planned rest stop an hour prior, it’s snowing, I am tired, I was granted 4 more hours of drive time. (Because that’s safer than parking in a non-imposing location?). I was told to, “move on.” Which would have me arriving in New Liskeard at about midnight… Now this fine fella also had the audacity to suggest I park in a snowplough turn around. A comment that officer Obie didn’t endorse or see any humour in. So off I went. Tired, in a snowstorm and extremely upset at our failing industry, in search of New Liskeard. I found it - but so did everyone else - before me. Too tired to try to play Operation with sleeping trucks owned by drivers who obviously failed at parking, I kept on going. Several of the plough turnarounds I came across were full of trucks who obviously had the same misfortune as I with parking. I drove through the snow, dodging snowflakes that I could swear were golf balls coming at me. Just to make it interesting I was also fighting the wind that easily could have me napping in a ditch if extreme care was not used. All the while I was looking for the pink elephants and their close relatives just waiting to pounce in my path. On I plowed, Mile after Mile Quite literally at this point. Until the lights of new Liskeard came into view through what was now fog laced golf balls that my 73 foot Millennium Falcon was spiralling through. I saw the scale, all empty and waiting. This night it was a beautiful sight. I parked. Just waiting for someone to ask me to move. None did. I pulled the blankets over my head and drifted into sleep. So there’s a lot of kinks to work out yet within our industry. Like starting with everyone on the same page with the rules. I know the law says I was in violation last night. However, MTO says move on; signed log book and away I went shaking my head. Parking is a massive issue for anyone, especially travelling highways 11 or 17 in Ontario. A major concern. Many figure mAy 2019
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the 401 corridor is what the rest of the country makes available for trucks. No. Not even close. The one sanctuary we did have were truck stops. Even those now we are limited to parking and must compete with everything, from bikes to campers that feel they are more important. Truck stops no longer exist here. They are travel centers. So are we truly ready for the forced implementation of Electronic Logging Devices? This in a country that still cannot even figure out how to provide readily available DEF in the winter months since it was forced upon us several years ago. I say NO we are not. ***** Three male bodies arrive at the morgue with big smiles frozen on their lifeless faces. The detective called the coroner to ask what happened to the men. “Well the first one was a 60 year old man who died of congestive heart failure while making love to his mistress. Hence the enormous smile.” The second was as 25 year old man who won ten thousand dollars on the slot machines, spent it all on Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Died of alcohol poisoning - hence his smile.” The Detective asked, “What about the third body?” “Ah,” said the coroner, “This is the most unusual one: Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, 45. Struck by lightning.” “Why is he smiling,” asked the Detective. “He thought someone was taking his picture.”
do you hAvE somEthinG to sAy? EmAil john@PtmAG.cA
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Tyres Across The Pond Colin Black lives in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland and has been driving truck for over 40 years. His story shows us once again that the problems drivers face are universal.
Driving Fraternity I don’t know why I’m surprised when I read things in the Pro-Trucker magazine and think, that’s exactly how it is over here. We’re all the same human beings, all doing much the same job, the trucks may be different over there and the roads a bit wider, but we hook onto a trailer and pick up and deliver freight. In the April issue, the letter from Nate Stanley and the poem from Dave Madill could’ve been about drivers in a lot of countries. I wondered if the driver Nate spoke to was maybe a Scot. Sometimes in the supermarket, my wife and I can meet a stranger and within twenty minutes we’ve got each other’s medical history and food likes and dislikes. And there’s been many times I’ve been glad to talk to anybody on the CB, stranger or not. Running night shift on a filthy foggy night talking to anybody sometimes keeps yourself a little more alert. Dave’s poem though could’ve been written about the last years of my good buddy, Tam. Tam married his childhood sweetheart, and when she left him for another man he was devastated. Tam was no angel though; he liked a drink or two and laughed when he told me a story of asking his wife for money to go into town for a haircut one Saturday afternoon. She gave him £20 saying, remember to bring back the change because that’s all I’ve got to last until payday. It was late in the evening when Tam rolled back home with his hair still the same length as it was when he went out and the £20 was long gone from drinking with his buddies. But really Tam was just a typical trucker. It was back in the days when the rules and regulations were not so strictly enforced. He worked long hours in the airfreight side of trucking so when he got the rare chance to let his hair down, he sometimes went a bit overboard. I think the beginning of the end was when his young son was lying on the floor on his belly watching TV. The TV exploded setting fire to the living room and it took the clothes and skin right off his son’s back. After a lot of skin grafts, the boy was back to almost normal. At the time Tam was grateful the boy had been facing down on the carpet, but when they tried to claim on the house insurance it was refused. That is when Tam discovered his wife had not kept the premiums up to date and that’s why the claim was refused. Tam left the marital home and moved in with his brother, sleeping on a sofa. The stress of his son’s condition along with his wife’s infidelity made his weight plummet. His chubby truckers body that was built on bad eating habits PAGE 28
was soon a shadow of its former self. I met him one day, and without actually saying the word, suicide, he told me he’d jumped into the harbour in Ayr one night. But he got his timing wrong because the tide was out, and all he did was rip his trousers and skin his knees on some rocks. Then he told me he’d met a widow who cared for her husband for many years until he passed away, he said he liked her but didn’t know what to do, I said, ask her to go for a bite to eat, what have you got to lose. He did, and they got on so well he moved in with her and was soon back up to his old chubby self, the widow sent him to work with a lunch box that would feed ten men. They had booked a big holiday to the USA when she was hospitalized with an illness that left her wheelchairbound for the foreseeable future. Tam felt he couldn’t cope with looking after her and walked away to leave her family to look after her. Not long after that, I moved on to a better paying job and only saw Tam as we passed on the road. Cell phones were still in their infancy back then, but I knew Tam’s truck had a cab phone and got his number from his office, I called a couple of times, but if Tam was working the calls were short. Then I heard from another buddy Tam’s body had washed up on the beach in Irvine, I thought, well Tam, you got your timing right this time. *****
Dr.s Orders!
A man, looking quite haggard and worn out went to the Doctor and the Doctor quite concerned by his appearance asked him what the problem was? “It is my wife’s temper,” The guy said, “I don’t know what to do it seems like every day my wife loses her temper and goes right off the deep end. She yells and screams and is totally irrational. It is almost like she is losing her mind!” The Doctor thought about it for a moment and then said, “I think I have a cure for that. From now on every time your wife gets angry and then starts to get hysterical yelling and screaming I want you to take a glass of warm water and start swishing the water in your mouth. Don’t swallow it just swish it around in your mouth until either she leaves the room or she calms down. Two weeks later the guy went back to see the doctor looking totally fresh and reborn. The nurse sent him into a room and when the Doctor came in the guy was smiling and whistling a tune. He turned to the Doctor and said, “Doctor that was brilliant idea! Every time my wife started losing it, I swished warm water around in my mouth. I swished and swished and like you said eventually she calmed right down. But I have to ask you though, how does a glass of warm water do that?” The Doctor said, “Well I have to tell you, the warm water itself does absolutely nothing. It is keeping your damn mouth shut that does the trick.”
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may 2019
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINE
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Three Trucks Three trucks headed out tonight, each one has a tale. As they rumble through the night they talk along the trail. The first is a younger man, just starting on this run, Six months he’s been married, life to him is still fun. Now he starts to worry, there’s a baby on the way, He’s starting to realize the price he has to pay. Out here on the highway with a wife at home, It’s hard to stay in touch with just a telephone. The second he is older and divorced nigh on ten years, He saw his marriage torn apart while he was shifting gears. He worries about his children, he doesn’t see them much at all, He tries to give some guidance when he has time to call. The third is not much different, I know because it’s me, Thirty years of marriage yet I still love my bride, She always travels with me, tucked down deep inside. Three very different drivers each with his own load, Can they learn from each other as they travel down the road.
Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores or amazon.com PAGE 30
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