Pro-Trucker Driver's Choice - September October 2024 ( Find Your Trucking Jobs)
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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
BY JOHN WHITE
We Go Again
Due to powerful lobby groups, the U.S. again increased tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber to 14.54 percent from 8.05 percent a year ago. The U.S. lumber industry claims, and Canada disputes, that Canadian lumber producers receive unfair subsidies from their government through low stumpage fees. Most Canadian lumber is harvested from crown land, while in the U.S., it comes from private land. This dispute has been ongoing for over 40 years, and each change seriously impacts the Canadian lumber industry and workers as well as all associated industries, such as trucking, equipment manufacturing, and local businesses that support forestry workers, many of whom will be laid off. Here is a brief history of the dispute.
• 1982: The U.S. Department of Commerce concluded that Canadian lumber was not subsidized.
• 1986: The U.S. imposed a 15% tariff on Canadian softwood lumber. This led to the first Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement, which resulted in the tariff being dropped.
• 1991: The U.S. imposed a countervailing duty on Canadian lumber. Canada challenged this, and the U.S. International Trade Commission found in Canada’s favour, removing the duties.
• 1996: The two countries reached the Softwood Lumber Agreement which imposed a tariff-rate quota on Canadian lumber. This agreement expired in 2001, leading to renewed disputes.
• 2001: The U.S. imposed a countervailing duty averaging 19.3% and anti-dumping duties of around 12.6% on Canadian lumber. This led to years of litigation and WTO/NAFTA panel decisions.
• 2006: The two countries reached a new agreement which involved the U.S. returning $4 billion of the $5 billion collected, Canadian producers and imposed export charges on Canadian lumber when prices fell below a certain level.
• 2017: The U.S. Department of Commerce re-imposed charges on Canadian softwood lumber, initially averaging around 20%. These rates have been adjusted several times since.
• 2018: Duties totaled approximately 20.23%.
• 2020: The U.S. duties to around 8.99%.
• 2021: The duties were increased again to around 17.91%.
• 2022: The tariffs were reduced to an average of 8.59%.
• 2024 duties have just been increased to 14.54 per cent.
The inconsistent application of tariffs in the softwood lumber industry creates a challenging environment for workers and their families, affecting everything from job security and income stability to mental health and community well-being. This dispute must be finalized once and for all so the communities, workers, and associated industries that depend on Canadian forestry are not in constant turmoil.
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RIG OF THE MONTH by John White
This issue’s Rig of the Month driver comes from a truck-driving family that is very well known in Western Canada. I first met Darwin, his brother Jeff, Jeff’s son Braden and his Dad, John, at the Alberta Big Rig Weekends, and I honestly can’t remember ever seeing him when he didn’t have a big smile on his face. Like many drivers back in the day, he came up old school and is truly one of the professionals.
Hi, my name is Darwin Hildebrand, and I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Please don’t hold that against me, as I have been an Albertan my whole life). My Dad was a driver for Reimer Express Lines, and when I was three months old, he transferred to Edmonton as a terminal manager. That didn’t last long, as the driving bug was deeply rooted in him, so he went to work driving for Arnold Brothers Transport.
My first recollection of a truck
was riding with my Dad in an old B-model Mack with a large tachograph on the green dash. I was in awe as I watched him drive. My Dad quit that job and bought a 67 Chevy 3-tonne that he put on with Northern Messenger in Edmonton. That was the start of my Dad’s lease operator career.
As a kid, I would walk down to the corner of Argyl Road and 86 Street and watch for hours as the trucks drove by. One day, I saw my Dad drive by in his old 67-box
truck, so I walked over to where he was unloading. I jumped into his truck and pushed the clutch in. The truck rolled ahead, and my Dad came running out, wanting to know what was going on. He saw me behind the wheel and wanted to know where I came from. After that, I rode with him every Saturday.
One day we were driving that old crappy truck, and as we climbed the quite steep 105th Street hill, Dad ran out of gas, and we came to a complete stop. Fortunately, there
Darwin Hildebrand
was a tow truck behind us with a big push bumper, and we backed into him. He held us as Dad got out to switch manually to the secondary tank. Several pumps of the pedal later, and off we went.
Moving up in the world, Dad bought his first tractor-trailer, a Dodge with a goofy-looking hood and fold-out fenders. It had a Cummins diesel with a five and two and was super loud. As a kid, that was my first experience with twin sticks, and it amazed me how he went through the gears. He put that truck on with Freeway Transport hauling gasoline, and it turned out to be junk, so he sold it back to the dealership and bought his first International. It was a 1977 TranStar 4200, his first brand-new truck with a 318 and a 13-speed.
When I was 13, my Dad asked me if I wanted to drive, and I said, “Heck ya.” He pulled it over on the Beverly Bridge in Edmonton and let me drive back to our home in Ardrossan. He wouldn’t let me go into 13th gear – I could only go into 12th. I drove it home, turned it into the yard, unhooked it, and put it in the shop. That was my first experience driving a truck, and I was hooked. To some degree, I drove a tractor-trailer on the road before I drove a car.
Throughout high school, my Dad had different trucking jobs. One of them was with All Weather Windows as their first owner-operator. One time, my Dad was trucking, and they had a rush load to Yellowknife, NWT, so my Dad trucked it up there. He got to Yellowknife, and they realized they sent the wrong product. My Dad turned right around and came home. He was exhausted, so my Mom took me out of school and dropped me off at a meeting point. I hopped in with my Dad and drove most of the way back to Yellowknife.
On another occasion, he had a job hauling pet food out of the US. It was a week before Christmas, and I was
out of school just goofing off when Mom called to tell me that I had to go and drive with Dad. I was both nervous and excited to drive to the US. I jumped in the truck, an old 1977 Freightliner cabover, and off we went. I was driving through Saskatchewan, and of course, as a youngster, I always drove faster than my Dad. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and Dad yelled at me from the bunk to pull over. I flipped the Jake on and realized I had blown the right front steer tire. We called a service truck, pulled a rear tire off, and put it on the front so we could carry on.
Dad drove to the border, where he went into customs while I stayed in the truck. I didn’t know where he went, so I wandered into customs. The customs officers asked, “Well, who the hell are you?” After producing my driver’s license, I was left alone in the customs office. Finally, my Dad came in and rescued me, and off we went. The trip went fairly well, and since it was Christmas time, there weren’t supposed to be any scales open. We were counting on that as my Dad didn’t have the proper operating authority to drive in that state. I was driving, and Dad was sleeping in the bunk when I saw flashing scale lights ahead and went ‘uh-oh”. I pulled into the scale to find state troopers running the scale house. One trooper had a huge loudspeaker and was yelling at everyone. I drove across the axle scale but went too far. I hit the brakes but didn’t stop fast enough and rolled off the scale. The trooper yelled at me to back that f’n truck up. I got the drive axle on the scale, and he yelled at me to come inside. I wasn’t overloaded by Canadian standards but I was by American standards.
I pulled the trailer over the scale and parked. Dad jumped into the driver’s seat, and I moved over to the jump seat. Dad panicked as he didn’t have his logbook ready. He wasn’t sure how to log both of us into one logbook. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door, and the state
trooper was standing there with his gun drawn. Sheer panic set in, and we went into the scale and talked with “grumpy Gus.” Another state trooper said we were overloaded, didn’t have operating authority, and didn’t have the logbook done correctly. Then the trooper asked me if I was 21. I was only 18, so I didn’t answer him yes or no. He asked me if I knew the fine for driving underage in the US. We didn’t know, so he told us it was $5,000.00. They gave us three tickets, so Dad wrote them a company cheque, and I was told not to drive. Dad drove for an hour and had to pull over as he was tired. I jumped into the driver’s seat and carried on. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.
We dropped our load and reloaded with dog food for the trip back to Alberta. I went with him to unload the dog food, and that is when my trucking career started. I was 18 years old, and they needed a driver for a little 1 tonne. I drove their 1-tonne delivering pet food around the city for a year. After that year, I decided that trucking wasn’t my thing – I didn’t want to grow up like my Dad, being away from home all the time, so I took a job at the Tire Warehouse, thinking I would be a mechanic instead. My cousin’s stepdad owned the company, and I felt that working with my cousin would be cool.
After the winter rush, they laid me off, so I went back to the pet food place to see if I could get on with them, as that was a pretty cool job. While I was gone, they had upgraded to an 80-something Ford F600 diesel
tandem truck with a 13-speed. George, the owner, asked me if I wanted to drive it, so I said sure, and off I went. I still didn’t have my license, so after a month, I went for my Class 3. I drove that truck around Alberta and into BC, hauling pet food. Again, I thought trucking wasn’t for me, so I returned to the Tire Warehouse as a store manager. I did that for several years but didn’t like working with the public. During that time, my Dad sold his tractor-trailer units and worked his tractor in the city for Truck All. My younger brother Jeff also bought a truck and put it on with Truck All. I was still at the tire shop as I had promised my first wife I would never become a truck driver, but it was a promise I couldn’t keep.
In 1992, I quit the tire shop and, with the help of my father, bought my first truck. Dad was and still is an excellent driver. (At 85, he has recently passed his driving testlol.) I bought a 1991 Ford LN 9000 single axle body job and signed a contract hauling for Mackenzie and Feinmann Industrial Chemicals. I was in heaven!! I owned my first truck, and it was pretty cool. Owning a truck requires a shop, so my Dad, brother, and I rented one.
One day, a few doors down, one of our shop partners had a cool 1985 Freightliner FLC Classic with a 400 cummin’s big cam 3 with a 15 direct and 355 gears that he was selling. He
asked me if I wanted to buy it, but I thought it was too much truck for me. I asked how much, and he said it was $25,000. I didn’t think it seemed like a lot of money, so I got a loan from the bank. I listed my Ford for $25,000, and it sold in a week. I needed a trailer, so I bought an old 28’ tandem pup. Right about then, I thought I should get my class 1. I drove the old Freightliner for a month and took the lady for a road test. I got my class 1 and was finally a real trucker.
Things were going well. I was making good money, and then Mackenzie and Feinmann were sold to Quadra Chemicals out of the east. With every purchase comes growing pains, and things change. The runs got slower, so I started looking. Jeff wasn’t overly happy at Truck All either. My Dad told us about a family friend who was hauling cars, making nothing but money. So Jeff and I sold our trucks together, bought a 1985 cab over Kenworth with a stinger car carrier, and ran it as a business team. What could possibly go wrong? Lol.
It was November of 1994 when Jeff and I started 4H transport hauling cars. That old Kenworth had been ridden hard and put away wet. It kept breaking down; we would fix it, and it would break down again. To top it off, the contractor wasn’t paying us, and when he did, the cheques bounced. Approximately six months later, we had big debt and no money coming in, so we decided to go on our own. There wasn’t enough revenue for one truck, so we parked it. My brother went on to drive long haul with All Weather Windows, and I went on with Rainbow Transport.
After the truck sold, a position with All Weather Windows came up. Jeff was making decent money driving to Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, so in 1996 I started driving for them too. I drove a new 1996 Freightliner FLD120 with a 36” flat-top sleeper. I lived in that truck six days per week, driving from Edmonton to Vancouver
via the Okanagan. My second load of the week would be to Prince George or Trail, BC, with multiple stops. It was go go go, but the money was amazing. I drove that truck for two years straight, and then All Weather decided they needed a fleet guy with lots of trucking experience. I took the desk job and a 50% cut in pay to be home every night, but juggling schedules and backhauls was hell. It was a big learning curve, and I was getting tired of management responsibilities, so in 1999, when an opportunity arose to drive a tanker truck, I took it. I didn’t have a lot of experience hauling resin. It sloshed around a bit, but that was all I knew.
I drove for Garry Jaeb Transport Inc. He had two trucks—a 1999 longnose Peterbilt and a 1995 Freightliner. Not long into that career, Garry sold the Freightliner and bought a new 2000 Peterbilt 379 long hood with a C15 cat, 18-speed big shack, and I found out what heaven really feels like. That was a great retirement job as it was 3-4 days per week, running two daily trips from Leduc to Drayton Valley or sometimes two trips to Grande Prairie weekly. We were the rail backup, so if a rail car didn’t go, we had to fill in from Dawson Creek and 100 Mile House, BC, with cleanouts in Kent, Washington. We hauled resin (glue) for OSB plants. Like everything, all good jobs must end so when the Drayton Valley plant shut down, there wasn’t enough work for both of us.
In 2003, I returned to All Weather Windows because I wanted to be a driver. Jeff was still there, and we started going to the Pro-Trucker Big Rig Weekends and Lesco shows. Many of you would have known my brother Jeff, who built some super cool Peterbilts, and between us, we won a few trophies.
In 2015, Jeff passed away from cancer. It ended the truck show era for us and left a gaping hole. Jeff’s Peterbilt sat in the yard, not moving
Braden, John and Darwin
a wheel. I sold it to a guy in BC and thus started the leased trucks for All Weather.
In 2018, I was also diagnosed with cancer. I have stage 3 mantle cell lymphoma but have not taken any treatment to date. My wife constantly reminds me that my cancer is lazy like me, as it is also slow-moving.
Jeff drove a pretty cool 99i, and I started driving an International 9400, which was pretty ugly, but after buying many parts from a Red Ram across the street - I made that truck look cool. I went from a Peterbilt to an ugly International, but that old truck was a workhorse with an N14 Cummins, an 18-speed, and 411 46s, hauling 5000 pounds of windows. It was a brute that pulled into the mountains with no issues. I drove that truck until they ordered two short hood Peterbilts. They were kinda cool and Peterbilts, so I didn’t care. I put 30,000 km on that truck when our fleet supervisor quit, leaving us with nobody. Management knew I had done it previously, so they approached me, but I wanted to be a driver. I declined initially and then told them I would do it in the interim, but this time, there would be no cut in pay. Reluctantly, they agreed. Thus, my management career restarted at All Weather Windows. The second go-around was different as I oversaw the entire fleet, buying and selling trucks and trailers, service, and sales vehicles, which grew exponentially. I continued that path as a supervisor/ manager, still driving when needed.
At one point, we were a family of big wheels. My Mom, sisters, Sharon, and Wendy drove school buses, while Dad, Jeff, and I were truckers. My Dad greatly impacted my driving career and life by taking me in the truck all those years, and I have done the same with both of my girls. Jessica and Debra have spent endless hours in or working on the truck with me - after all, trucking is in their
blood, too. I am proud to say that all 6 of my grandkids love trucks, too, and get such a kick out of climbing into Papa’s truck and pulling on the horn.
Jeff’s son, Braden, is a truck driver; with him, my Dad and I were looking for something to restore. One of the trucks we were interested in was one Jeff sold so we could go hauling cars. It was a 1977 Kenworth single axle that R&R Stress now owned in Nisku, but they weren’t interested in selling… yet…. Meanwhile, Braden found a black 1978 Kenworth sitting in a farmer’s field in Bonnyville. I immediately called the number and talked to the farmer, but he said the truck had just been sold to someone in the US. We were disappointed again. I called him back Monday morning, and he said the US deal had fallen through, and we could have it.
We picked up the truck several days later and discovered it was a 1978 W900 B model Kenworth with a silver 92 V8 Detroit with a 13-speed. Oh, the sound of that twostroke I originally learned to drive on was so cool. The truck was an old black Kenworth and started the transformation into a Smokey and the Bandit truck. That was a 5-year project that culminated in winning the vintage class at the Lesco truck show in 2022 and got me into the 2023
WOW Trucks calendar. That was quite an honor, considering that it was something I dug out of a farmer’s field. Without Braden and Dad, I wouldn’t have been able to make the truck what it was. After getting my picture on the calendar, my Dad took a calendar to R&R Stress. When they saw the black Kenworth’s transformation, he said it was time we had the blue Kenworth. Having only one spot in the shop, we sold the black Kenworth to make room for Jeff’s old Kenworth, which we are currently working on.
The last twenty years at All Weather Windows have been great, but no job is stress-free. During that time, I got divorced and re-married to the love of my life, the safety chick from All Weather Windows, now the safety manager at Stahl Peterbilt. Things come full circle.
After much discussion with my wife, I decided to semi-retire from All Weather Windows after 26 years. I am now helping my son-in-law and daughter on their farm driving another old retired All Weather Windows unit, a 2007 379 L Peterbilt with a cat motor hauling grains and canola with a super B - man, that’s a lot of weight. I am not sure what my next act looks like. I could be driving. I could be an owner-operator, but I’m pretty sure it will be behind the wheel.
Cookin’ on the Road
They say no news is good news, right? Nothing exciting has happened in my trucking world lately, so I figured I would share a few new air-fryer snack recipes. These ones are for the more adventurous on-road cooks out there.
September should be more of an exciting month. The Big Iron Classic Truck Show is in Kasson, MN, on September 6th and 7th. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to attend that one for eight years or so now. My friends called it a family reunion because it’s friends who have become family, and we usually only get to visit once a year.
Last weekend, I sat near Milwaukee, WI, waiting on a Monday reload. I was parked at a Kwik Trip truck stop, which is one of my favourites because it has a wide variety of groceries and delicious hot deli items and sweets. Of course, I could have bought all the yummy goodness to snack on while I caught up on my Netflix shows, but I decided to go through my selection of groceries in my truck and see what I could find for healthier options. I had a good selection of canned goods in the truck, knowing I would use them one day. I do, however, have to say that I owe my thanks to TikTok for actually making me buy canned chickpeas, artichoke hearts and hearts of palm. None of which I would have ever thought to buy before, but if these influencers say they are good, I should try, right?
Up first were the roasted chickpeas. You could eat them hot or cold and snack on them like a corn nut or use them as a topping for a salad. I chose to eat them as a snack.
AIR FRYER CHICKPEAS
It’s important to start with dry chickpeas, so first things first, rinse and drain the chickpeas and pat dry on paper towels. For seasonings, you can add whatever you like, and however much you like. On the first attempt, I sprayed the chickpeas with avocado oil after drying them, then added taco seasoning.
Air fry the chickpeas for 12 to 14 minutes at 380 degrees, shaking the basket halfway through. When they are crunchy and golden brown, they’re ready.
For my second attempt, I sprayed the dry chickpeas with avocado oil and then air-fried them before I added the seasoning. After they were cooked, I added a dill pickle-flavoured popcorn seasoning.
Either way worked just fine. Just depends on your preference. I stored the leftovers in a sandwich bag, and they were still crunchy several days later.
Up next on the cooking agenda was the air-fried artichoke hearts. They could be eaten as a snack or a side dish. I got the canned ones packed in water rather than oil and the halves rather than the whole ones.
By Myrna Chartrand
Myrna was born and raised in Oak Point, Manitoba and was our April 2019 Rig of the Month driver.
AIR FRYER ARTICHOKE HEARTS
INGREDIENTS
Artichoke heart halves, packed in water
Olive or avocado oil
Salt and pepper, to taste Parmesan cheese, if desired
Tzatziki sauce for dipping
INSTRUCTIONS
Drain artichoke hearts well, and pat dry with a paper towel.
Put artichoke hearts in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and seasonings. Toss gently until they are well coated.
Arrange artichoke hearts in the air fryer basket and cook at 390 degrees for 13 minutes, tossing halfway through.
When the artichoke hearts are done, you can sprinkle with parmesan cheese, if desired.
Serve hot and dip in tzatziki sauce.
Last up on the list was the airfried hearts of palm that are supposed to be a substitute for mozzarella sticks. Between you and I, they were definitely not comparable. They were tasty though, so I will make them again.
continued on next page...
AIR FRYER HEARTS OF PALM
INGREDIENTS
1 can of hearts of palm
1 cup panko bread
1 large egg
Salt and pepper, to taste
Garlic powder or Italian seasoning, to taste
Marinara sauce or ranch dressing for dipping
INSTRUCTIONS
Stir bread crumbs and seasonings together in a shallow bowl. Beat egg with a fork in a separate shallow bowl.
Roll 1 heart of palm in egg, then roll in seasoned bread crumbs. Repeat 2 or 3 times depending on how much of a coating you prefer. Put the heart of palm aside and repeat with the remaining sticks.
Place the coated hearts of palm in the air fryer and cook for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Roll sticks over halfway through to make sure they get crisp all around.
Once they are done, dip them into your favourite sauce and enjoy!
Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Why do Professional Athletes think I care about what they think?
If I wanted advice from someone who chases a ball, I’d ask my dog.
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Turn any sofa into a sofa bed by telling your wife to calm down.
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Be Prepared
It’s the boy scouts’ motto. While I was never a scout, I find it to be pretty sage advice for life. I was drawn to think about this last week when I was on the road in BC. I had stopped for the night at the truck stop and was eating my supper when a newer driver approached my truck and asked me if I had a screwdriver he could borrow. He worked for one of the bigger carriers, and I won’t name names, but it got me thinking about what a person should have for a basic personal kit while on the road.
This is far from the first time I’ve been asked to borrow a tool, help fix an airline, or if I had a bolt, etc. I do not want to be the guy longing for the old days, but this sort of thing has been more frequent in the past few years. I am unsure what the reasoning is for this, but trucks often sit on the roadside because of the lack of the most basic kit. Admittedly, I carry more than the average driver needs, but I thought sharing a list of the minimum kit and the preferred northern deluxe version might be helpful. You may see glaring omissions in this, and I’d be open to hearing what I missed!
Basic Kit
Tools:
• Screwdriver set, something that includes Phillips, Robertson, Flats and Torx bits
• Allen key sets, SAE and Metric
• SAE wrenches up to 1inch
• Metric wrenches up to - I don’t know metric well but be sure there’s a 10mm!
• Crescent wrenches, one larger and one small to medium
• One hard case Socket set with 3/8” and ¼” drive sockets, preferably in SAE and Metric.
• Wire stripper/crimper and test light
• A Utility Knife
• Tire Gauge
• Hammer
Hardware:
• Airbrake fitting kit (Available through several sources. Get as complete a selection as you can afford and keep it replenished!)
• Nuts and bolts set (Available on Amazon or at Princess Auto again, get what you can afford, and if you, like me, have a junk drawer in your toolbox, steal some of your odds and ends from there to add to it!)
• A roll of bailing wire
• You guessed it - Duct tape! (Bailing wire and duct tape may augment any fix and, in some cases, render the rest of this list useless!)
• Electrical tape
• Glad hand rubbers x 2
• Small wire terminal set
• 2” amber and red clearance lights
• Spare taillights
• A variety of hose clamps
• A 2 ft piece of rad hose
• 1 moving blanket (When you have to lay on cold or hot pavement, or gravel, this will make the experience much less painful!)
The above constitutes the bare minimum to fix most small repairs that could keep you stuck on the side of the road or give you an out-ofservice. You can keep it in tool bags or a couple of small tool boxes and move it from truck to truck if you slip seat. As a company driver, insist
By Greg Evasiuk
Greg is a 3rd generation trucker with over 1 million miles and 22 years in trucking.
on having a spare set of belts for the fan and alternator and ensure they give you jugs of spare fluids (engine oil, coolant and washer fluid). It is by no means the complete do-it-all-getyour-self-out-of-bind compilation, but combined with the internet or a phone call to a more mechanically inclined friend, it will keep you rolling back to the barn.
In seeing the move to make trucking a trade, a portion of the training should be dedicated to the mechanical aspect of trucking and roadside repairs. Like many drivers who came up in the 80s-90s, I was taught most of the basics by other drivers. What I didn’t pick up from others was learned due to necessity on backroads without a cell phone! That’s pretty rare today, so it is incumbent on our industry to implement some training to help.
Walk through a truck stop now, and you will no doubt hear air leaking from trucks, see lights out and see leaks from various sources. When asking drivers, they generally know there’s a problem, but they just don’t know how to fix it or have anything to fix it with. If you are in that category, follow the list and go online to learn how to use it. You’ll be surprised how empowering it is to help yourself!
Madill
Sadly Dave Madill passed on May 1st of this year. He will always be fondly remembered and missed.
Partners
Two big rigs in the darkness running hard through the night, Headlights burning brightly cut a tunnel through the night, Two drivers, each in their cabs, a father and a son, Thunder down the highway on another midnight run.
A father shares his wisdom: thirty years out on the road, Teach another generation how to haul the heavy loads.
A different type of bonding between this father and his son, A partnership in diesel fumes forged on a midnight run.
Dave
Are you Ready?
As I look back through my memory, I and most old timers with 25-60 years of trucking have learned and experienced the best and safest ways to handle a truck and trailer as a machine. We also understand the best ways to handle ourselves in various situations. Do we know everything? No, every day is a learning experience. If a new driver knew all that is involved with this job, they may have second thoughts concerning their career choice.
We all know we are not expected to do an in-frame overhaul, but can you diagnose and repair minor mechanical problems? What about first aid? Are you trained in how to react to an accident scene?
First aid may not seem important from a driving point of view, but I will tell you how I learned. I will also tell you that I have been at many minor accidents (2 or 3 vehicles involved) and at least a dozen (12 plus) major accidents, loss of life or fires and many people involved. Through the years, I have developed a solid stomach. My stomach would digest gravel if my throat would let it down.
In the mid to late 60s, I drove out of Saskatoon, hauling livestock and machinery. With limited experience and a newer driver with even less experience, I had hauled some machinery from Saskatoon to the Edmonton area. We dropped the trailers and were bobtailing back to Saskatoon. There were no cell phones or C.B. radios, and we ran too fast for smoke signals. He was ahead, and about midnight, he wandered off the highway into the ditch and hit an
approach. I jammed the brakes on and stopped on the side of the road, where he had landed on all wheels. I jumped out, ran to his truck, opened the door and climbed up. He was slumped over the wheel, dazed. I had a flashlight and saw the top of his head was bleeding. I asked him if he was okay, but he was dazed and couldn’t answer. I pulled him back into the seat and I said, “The top of your head is gone.” (wrong move) The truck had a coat hanger behind the driver’s seat, and he hit it, and it scalped himself from behind.
By Glen Millard
Glen “The Duck” was born in Saskatchewan. He has driven trucks for 50 years, mostly long hauling. He’s now retired, that is until another adventure comes along.
checking for further wounds, and then you hauled him in a rough truck to the hospital that wasn’t open. About then, I didn’t feel very good. The doctor said he would give me a medical training request so that I could take a first aid course. He said your heart is in the right spot, but you should get some training.
I grabbed his scalp and slapped it back on his head. (Another wrong move.) I knew I had to get him to a hospital. We were just past Lavoie, Alberta, where a small 6-room hospital had no 24-hour service.
I grabbed him by his arms and jumped out of his truck onto the ground, dragged him up to my truck and stuffed him in. (Wrong again)
We got to the hospital, called the doctor at his house, and he went to work on him. About 2 or 3 hours later, the doctor came to the waiting room and asked me who had helped the other driver. I was all proud and said, “I did!” He said, “I thought so. You nearly killed him.”
First, you don’t replace a scalp. You cover it with a damp cloth until it is cleaned, and next, you check for broken bones, neck, or back. You moved him over rough terrain without
The other driver had no other injuries and was going to be okay. I left and headed for Saskatoon. The adrenalin rush that I had kept me wide awake the rest of the night and all the way to Saskatoon. That was my first accident – I was the first one there, the only help for him, and I didn’t know what to do.
Since then, I have taken First Aid training and earned an advanced certificate. Within a year, I was able to take stage one of Paramedic Training. It was about how to do a tracheotomy (how to make a hole in a windpipe in case of a blockage) and how to handle more than one patient at a time. It was as advanced as I took, but it came in very handy –many times over the years.
I think that at least a First Aid course should be part of a Class 1 license. You never know when you may stumble onto a scene such as the Humbolt accident. You don’t have to be a hero, but being a spectator is hard for you to live with.
Education
As the saying goes, every day’s a school day, but when the government says every driver must go through 35 hours of training every five years to get a CPC licence, or they can’t drive anymore, it sticks in your craw a wee bit. Especially when you’re an older driver, and the training is stuff you’ve been doing for years. The company I was with at the time had three depot trainers. They were allegedly, ex-drivers. One of the trainers was very strict, even with the simplest parts of the schedule.
The training was in five seven-hour sections. At the end of every section, there was a questionnaire where you had to give your trainer a star rating. If this strict trainer got anything less than a five-star rating, he went off on a rant. It struck me at the time that his name was very apt: Thomas Watt - T. Watt.
So, with all the other annoyances of modern-day trucking life, I couldn’t wait to retire. When my 65th birthday came around, I was off. My birthday fell on a Friday, the end of a week and my truck-driving life. That was nine years ago, and I can honestly say I don’t miss being a truck driver, well, not the modern truck-driving life.
The life where drivers are monitored every minute of their day. If you happen to stop for a toilet break near the depot, be prepared for questions to be asked by office staff who monitor you on a screen
about ten feet from their toilet. And if you’re a company driver, running repairs to get you home is frowned on by the company mechanics. Bring back the good old days when drivers carried tools, a jack, and a wheel brace to change a flat tyre. But tools are no good when an electronic sensor goes AWOL and puts the truck’s engine into limp mode.
By Colin Black 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.
I try to keep up with modern trucking through the media, magazines, and YouTube videos to keep up with the latest stuff. I discovered a young driver on YouTube who showed me that there are some good young drivers in the industry. Married with a three-year-old son, he starts his day at three or four am, and with one eye on the e-log driving and working limits, he doesn’t always get home the same day. Just like me, he started his life in a small van doing multi-drop parcel deliveries and worked his way up to a bigger rigid van. Then he took his class 1 licence and started going country-wide on tractor-trailer work.
His truck is always clean and tidy, inside and out. The videos he makes are all about how to do the job out on the road, no fancy “look at me and my big truck” stuff. Although he’s just a young driver himself, I think a novice driver will get a lot of information from his
videos. One of his tips is if you find yourself out of e-log driving hours miles from civilization, don’t just pull in anywhere. He was going to stop beside a country road. There was a big pull-in beside a field, and it looked like a nice, quiet place, but this was where I learned something. He walked into the bushes and looked around, there were plastic containers and a couple of broken fuel tank caps lying there. The scum who syphoned the diesel out of truck tanks had left the plastic containers there to use later.
This was so there was no evidence in their vehicle that they were up to no good if the cops stopped them. This kind of education makes good, safe drivers.
Some drivers keep a small gas camping stove in the cab for making coffee or a quick meal if they’re out of hours and nowhere near a truck stop or takeaway stores. The young driver stressed that you keep windows open and that the cab was well-ventilated when the stove was on. An old buddy of mine passed away in his cab because he fell asleep with his stove still burning. Here’s hoping that more young drivers like him come into the industry.
I need to re-home a dog. It’s a small Terrier, and tends to bark a lot. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll jump over my neighbor’s fence and get it for you.
