A new truck!: International has introduced its new HX Series vocational truck, which will replace the PayStar.
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Tax time to-dos: Tax expert Scott Taylor offers tips on how to better prepare for income tax season.
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Western Canada’s Trucking Newspaper Since 1989
March 2016 Volume 27, Issue 3
Don’t get squeezed: Buying a used truck? We offer some tips to help you avoid landing a lemon.
truckwest.ca
RETAIL A DV E R T I S IN G PAGES 35 -4
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On a personal mission
Former RCMP officer who lost two brothers now advocates for driver safety By Derek Clouthier
Making a career change to trucking 16 years ago, Laurie and Kelly Gordon haven’t looked back.
On the road to a new career
Reach us at our Western Canada news bureau
The Gordons now campaign for others to follow suit after entering trucking as a second career
Contact Derek Clouthier Derek@ Newcom.ca or call 403-969-1506
PM40063170
By Derek Clouthier
pg 01, 17, 19 tw mar v3.indd 1
MUNDARE, Alta. – Kelly and Laurie Gordon did it 16 years ago, and they say you can do it too. The couple, who live on an acreage east of Edmonton, made the decision to become fulltime truck drivers when they were unhappy with the direction their careers were taking them and decided to steer a different way. And since that day in 1999, neither has looked back. Despite his love of driving and the trucking community, Kelly said he is concerned with how the industry attracts new drivers, and believes that for the right type of person, trucking could be the perfect fit. “Because of what’s going on in the economy, in Alberta in particular with a lot of people out of work,” he said, “I thought it was important to give insight into the fact that this can be done.” Kelly studied journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and worked in media relations for Edmonton Police Services
Careers: 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33
and Edmonton airports. Like most parents, Kelly’s wanted him to go to post-secondary school and as he put it, ‘be somebody.’ Kelly grew up in Kitimat, B.C., where he drove in a logging truck for the first time and fell in love. “I’d drive by trucks and look at them and wonder what it’s like to be in there,” he said. When Kelly met Laurie, the couple had a tradition where every now and then each took a turn purchasing something ‘extravagant’ for themselves, and being his turn, Kelly made the choice in 1999 that they get their Class 1 licences. “It wasn’t to make a career of it, it was just something to do that I had always wanted to do as a kid, and I just wanted to see if I could get it,” Kelly said. “I never thought I’d get the licence.” The rest is history. Now the couple, who drive for Canada Cartage Systems, hopes the next crop of drivers is eagerly waiting on the horizon, but Kelly is concerned with how the industry is Continued on page 17
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LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. – Grant Aune witnessed his fair share of deaths and injuries while working for the RCMP investigating traffic collisions in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, but none more difficult than the loss of not one, but two of his brothers to a highway collision. “The first 25 years of my professional career was purely reactive,” Aune said, explaining that as an RCMP collision reconstructionist he was only able to attend road collisions after they occurred. “I never had an opportunity in that 25 years in the Mounted Police to do what I’m doing this morning, and that’s to talk to people and pass on information actively to hopefully prevent you from ever being involved in an incident.” Aune is now the owner of Advantage Fleet Services, which provides proactive risk management and loss prevention to companies in various business sectors in Canada and the US for areas such as, but not limited to, driver assessments, training, commercial vehicle incident investigation and collision reconstruction. Presenting to attendees of the Alberta Motor Transport Association’s (AMTA) 2016 Lloydminster Safety Conference and Trade Show Jan. 27, Aune touched upon several ‘shocking’ statistics about incidents on North American highways and posed six challenges to not only those who make their living behind the wheel, but everyone with a driver’s licence. “What’s happening on our highways and byways is an epidemic,” Aune said. “The statistics are alarming.” Some of those statistics are getting better, at least when it comes to the number of traffic-related fatalities on Canadian roads, but Aune cautioned not to be too optimistic about the numbers. “I’m here to tell you that it’s not because we’re better drivers. It has Continued on page 19
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