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The perfect fit
It’s finally here
The new norm
Comfortable in her seat as a logging truck driver.
Mercedes-Benz unleashes its brand new Sprinter.
Western carriers react to new U.S. ELD mandate.
MARCH 2018 VOLUME 29, ISSUE 2
Reach us at our Western Canada news bureau Contact Derek Clouthier Derek@Newcom.ca or call 403-969-1506
WWW.TRUCKWEST.CA
RETAIL ING IS ADVERT
AMTA names new president Recruitment, ELDs, MELT, and women in trucking all on Nash’s radar
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By Derek Clouthier
Grooming the next crop of drivers I head to the West Kootenay mountains to bravely ride along with students By Derek Clouthier CASTLEGAR, BRITISH COLUMBIA There’s an easy way and a hard way to get your Class 1 driver’s licence, and if you want the easy way out, choosing Mountain Transport Institute (MTI) may not be the right choice for you. I visited the West Kootenay driver training school at the end of January to do some ride alongs with a couple MTI students and get an appreciation of the daunting mountainous terrain wannabe truck drivers have to navigate in the area. It didn’t take long before I was dealing with the challenges of the mountain passes on my own. On the drive to Castlegar, B.C. from Alberta, the Kootenay Pass on Hwy 3 gave me a taste of what was to come. Road conditions were barely passable – at least from my perspective as a non-resident of the area – and as I was traveling at a tenuous 40 km/h at the highest elevation points, I couldn’t help but think of the truck drivers who navigate this stretch of highway on a daily basis. “If you can drive a truck in this area, you can drive one anywhere” is a motto echoed by MTI and its students. And it’s any wonder. Steep grades, long grades, mountain passes, sharp turns, inclement weather, literally traveling in a cloud… the number of factors that can turn a driver’s day into a nightmare are endless.
Day 1 (morning) Arriving at the MTI office around 6:45 a.m., instructor Mike Boultbee was sipping his coffee while watching Chris Teather, an MTI student since November, perform his morning walk around safety check of the Freightliner truck he was about to take out on the road. Despite 70% of new trucks being automated, all MTI students are trained on manual transmissions to ensure they have that skill under their belt. Teather has a unique way of shifting the gears, as he lost his right arm in a sawmill accident in 2006. A mold was taken of a gearshift to ensure his prosthetic fits perfectly for ease of movement while shifting. “It’s nice and short so I get feedback from the gearshift, so it works out nice,” Teather explained, adding that he normally does not wear a prosthetic during the day, so he was originally concerned with how he would deal with a long day behind the wheel. But that worry subsided with a driving arm that weighs about 10 lbs. less than a typical day-to-day prosthetic. Eventually Teather will have a small finger-like piece attached to the end of the prosthetic to enable him to more easily hit switches in the truck. Teather chose MTI and driving as a career for the diversity of choices he has seen offered in the high demand profession. Continued on page 22
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Careers: 26-29 Ad Index: 45
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MTI instructor Mike Boultbee shows one of his students how to navigate around tight residential streets with a tractor-trailer.
EDMONTON, ALBERTA Chris Nash will take over the role of president of the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) March 5, replacing outgoing president Lorraine Card. Having started his career in 1987 with Byers Transport, Nash enters the position with more than 30 years of experience in the transportation industry. He joined the AMTA board of directors in 2016 as the Edmonton regional director and was nominated and elected vice-chairman of the board April 2017. Nash also co-chairs and is a member of the AMTA Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Advisory Council, and has served as chairman of the Cargo Securement and Out-of-Service working groups, and sits on the board of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA). Following his 13-year career with Byers, Nash was employed by Rainbow Transport, where he gained experience in terminal operations and management. He then moved to Jones Transportation,