New mandatory training for Alberta truck, bus drivers following Humboldt crash

Truck and bus drivers of Alberta will have a new test to take starting on March 1.

The Government of Alberta has recently announced that entry-level training to obtain Class 1 or 2 licences in the province will become mandatory starting next spring.

See also

• Families of Humboldt Broncos victims are furious at author of new book
• Road testing in Alberta now falling under government control
• Trucking company owner charged in deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash

New safety requirements will also be put into place for truck and bus drivers, including a safety fitness course that must be completed, third-party review of compliance after one year of operations, and a three-year expiry for all Safety Fitness Certificates to ensure that all drivers are up to date on the requirements.

“We are advancing safety standards in our commercial driving industries to enhance road safety, not just in Alberta, but across the continent, as commercial drivers travel across Canada and North America,” said Brian Mason, Alberta’s Minister of Transportation, in a release.

“We’ve worked with our industry stakeholders to make these changes with their support and we are pleased to be moving forward to put them in place.”

The announcement came on the same day that 29-year-old Sukhhmander Singh was charged with non-compliance with federal and provincial safety regulations in relation to the Humboldt Broncos collision that left 16 people dead and 14 injured.

While the collision took place in Saskatchewan, Singh’s trucking company, Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd. was operating out of Edmonton.

The release states that the new requirements will come into effect on March 1, 2019, and any drivers that obtain a Class 1 or 2 license between now and then will be required to retake the knowledge and road tests when they become available.

Driver examiners will also be retrained under the new standards, and, according to a release from earlier this month, will all be government employees starting March 1 thanks to a province-wide elimination of private driver licence testing.

The release stated there are 150,000 vehicles being operated by 25,000 commercial carriers throughout Alberta.