Some city registries say wait times for driver testing have increased significantly since the province took over driver examinations from the private sector March 1.
And some in the industry say the changes have also abruptly stripped them of their livelihoods, with the province taking over the work and outsourcing some of it.
Last year, in response to the Humboldt Broncos bus crash, the province passed legislation creating mandatory truck training requirements while also reversing the 1993 privatization of all driver testing.
The latter move was in response to complaints over the high cost and service quality, and even criminality, said Alberta Transportation officials.
But a canvass of several registries in Calgary that arrange the tests, including those for regular Class 5 licences, revealed frustration among staff who said customers could wait weeks to take a road exam, when before March 1 it would be done the same day.
The truck driver responsible for the Humboldt bus crash didn’t blow through that stop sign because he “lacked training”.
One of the great improvements in Drivers Licenses under Klein was the privatization of them. I remember going to get new plates for a vehicle and standing in line for most of the afternoon. A few years later the sign on the registries office said they guaranteed service in 5 minutes or less.
Probably the only thing Ralph Klein did that I was not in agreement with.
I can’t even.
I’ve heard about cash-for-licences for years here, but even with that and the Broncos crash, this is just effing dumb.
‘The truck driver responsible for the Humboldt bus crash didn’t blow through that stop sign because he “lacked training”.’
Exactly correct, Kate
This is more of a ‘don’t let a crisis go to waste’ situation
A maxim for life: the government will always screw up what was done well by the private sector because there is no personal incentive (a.k.a being dismissed and suffering immediate financial penalty) to do well (the benefits of a meritocracy).
The socialist extremists that run the government of Alberta today see it as job number one to get as many as is possible or perhaps everyone to get into government unions. It is positively the easiest way to control people.
The services and other such that people think that the government should do is just an afterthought.
If it works, good, if not, who the hell cares.
As for who is going to pay for it, well the conservative government of course.
Sigh, my teenager is lining up on the driver’s test in April — in Calgary. I guess I should book it now.
On a side note, if the NDP somehow becomes two term, how long before we deprivatize back to ALCB (and Cannabis–alccb?) stores and get rid of registries all together.
Here in Saskatoon driver’s tests are handled by the government through SGI and I marvel every day as to how some drivers, and I use the word loosely, manage to pass a road test. I witness vehicles blowing through stop signs, speeding through school zones (very common), not using signal lights, changing lanes without looking in the mirrors, merging onto freeways at a snail’s pace or stopping altogether, daydreaming at green lights. And all this occurs when driving conditions are good. When there’s snow or freezing rain thrown into the equation, the stupidity increases ten fold and streets turn into demolition derbies. We can’t blame this behavior on privatization.
I totally agree.
I’ve seen behaviour from drivers (most of whom are certainly old enough to know better) that would blow your mind.
Privatising drivers’ education or graduated licensing or any form of licensing is not going to change bad behaviours and poor driving performance.
Perhaps IQ tests or sky-high, on-the-spot fines or tougher jail sentences might.
My daughter had experience with private examiners. The local small town one had a cottage industry going flunking people several times. My daughter eventually took her test in Edmonton and passed first time. One would figure driving in Edmonton would be tougher for a hick town kid. Incidentally my daughter had well over 10,000 km driving experience and had driven through most of the big cities between Edmonton and New York. She didn’t show nerves or inexperience at all.
And government examiners can do the same damned thing. In fact, are probably more likely to…..it means hiring more “examiners” and growing the bureaucracy (which if not already, would be a target for unionization….with the right to strike). And you see, in the private sector, you have a choice of where you go…..not so with the government.
A government that allows photo radar is capable of doing anything to raise money.
Maybe they should taken over the private flying schools now that there has been a plane crash in Ethiopia…..same logic as Humboldt.
If you think that only a government employee is capable of testing drivers you probably think only a government employee can properly sell liquor….or license plates…..or marriage licenses.
C’mon boys and girls. The government should be barred from engaging in all commerce.
“The truck driver responsible for the Humboldt bus crash didn’t blow through that stop sign because he “lacked training”.
Well,why DID he blow through that stop sign? I’ve never heard of a real explanation. I don’t want to suggest anything racist, but I have personally witnessed certain ethnic groups and their contempt for our laws and regulations with regard to operating a motor vehicle.
When you make a massive shift in a service from private to public or vice versa,there will always be problems with the implementation, doesn’t matter what the object is. We in B.C have always had the driver’s licencing and testing run by the government, long before the NDP ever formed government. It’s quite efficient.
If we were to shift to private as Alberta had,there’d be a year or so of chaos, just like Alberta is experiencing. When we DID change from the dept.of Highways to private contractors, the highway maintenance went from very good to disastrous in some regions, as many of the private contractors were not capable of doing the massive work the D of H used to .
The Coquihalla Connector is a great example of private highway maintenance, or lack of it. I’m all for capitalism and small government,but there are some services that should be left to government,and highway maintenance is one of them. W.A.C.Bennett, the Premier the ignorant love to call “Wacky”, but in reality the Premier who understood more about business and it’s relationship with government than any Premier we’ve ever had, or most other Provinces ever have had, was firm in his belief that some services have to be run by the government for the taxpayers, and the rest of it has to be run by private industry. Build the roads and railways, then get the hell outta the way and let industry do it’s job.
He also believed that power had to be owned and run by and for the taxpayer, who,he believed actually owned the utility.We had the cheapest and most reliable hydro rates in North America, then politicians came along who had a better idea, crony capitalism. Now we have privately owned windmills and soaring electricity rates.
Under WAC’s leadership , B.C. was second only to Ontario in wealth,wages, and opportunity for private industry. there are factions in both government and private industry who,if given enough rein,will f*** up whatever service they’re supposed to provide. How in hell did a guy who didn’t know how to operate a Honda civic, get to drive a “B” train?
Hear, hear! Well said.
“Well,why DID he blow through that stop sign?”
I saw a middle age women stop at a stop sign and then pull directly in front of a truck, killing her passenger. Why did she do it? I’m guessing she had hundreds of thousands of km of driving experience. She got a $50 fine – about 20 years ago. Some guy from India who did the same screw up but pulled in front of a speeding bus is going to get several years in jail. Are you saying the 3,000 or so vehicle deaths per year in Canada have a rational reason for happening?
well scar, I saw a rage head blow off a red light at about 120 in and 80, dr5iving a red river live bottom, IF I had pulled out when my light turned green, I wouldn’t be posting here today. Many of the low cast Sikhs take up truck driving, and with their imported attitudes and total lack of skills, they are rolling disasters. All sorts of Trucking” phukkups occur around here all the time, and 95% involve Sikhs. I asked a sikh if these truck drivers were that stupid, or had that bad of attitudes. His answer, BOTH.
When turd worlders are imported they bring a piece of turd world with them. Meanwhile everyone else is made to suffer ever tightening restrictions on driving.
Think bigger government would have prevented the bus crash?
Maybe a bigger stop sign at that intersection would have done it?
Or more deeper rumble strips or more government regulations?
Cant we just regulate judgment and common sense?
Let’s here it from you guys who think government is the answer.
the election will be over by the end of April. Then probably within a couple of weeks the UCP will reverse this idiocy.
I wouldn’t count on them reversing it that soon. There is a long list of things to be undone.
Manitoba has the worst driver licensing program in the country. Aside from extended wait times, and bloated bureaucracy, their graduated levels make life difficult, for difficult’s sake. Not allowing for age, previous categories of license, or experience, even a 60 year old person getting their next license level must abstain from any and all alcohol for five years, cannot drive at night, and cannot take a passenger.
Then there are the costs involved, the shut down of insurance during certain times of year, and the incestuous relationships between corporations and the government on the used parts and repair shops.
Oh there’s more….
Class 1 (Humboldt driver class) hasn’t been dealt with yet. If this was the NDP’s cause then why is it their ‘last fix’
My town’s driver examiner drives from Banff to south of Calgary. Govt vehicle, gas paid. Others w/o govt car get mileage after 25km/day.
Get 2-3 days/week with an examiner….for an office that was booked solid almost every day.
Salaried examiners with benefits and pension (paid whether there are tests booked or not)………. Will the NDP do a cost analysis?
If test booked in registry office is tested elsewhere the service fee goes to the office where the test was carried out. The booking office gets nothing – so good luck finding an office to give 15+ minutes to in office booking when they all figure this out.
Many smaller communities have no examiner anymore. They have been told to wait and see.
As a FYI……the service fee charged has not been raised for almost 13 years. That’s like you not getting a raise for that long. But registries pay $15 minimum wage and ALL costs associated with running an office. Higher wages/utilities/CO2 tax……etc, etc. with a 2006 income.
It is NOT the quality or amount of training that a person gets that determines how a driver acts out on the streets. I have personally witnessed people say how wrong it was of the Broncos accident truck driver to blow through the stop sign, only to blow through a stop sign themselves. Everyone at work got a safety meeting lesson from the accident, but that didn’t stop the fellow employees in their own, or company vehicles, from blowing stop signs
It is a feature not a bug. If they could eliminate private transportation they would. Until they can they are trying to limit in every way possible. All according to the plan.
Has anyone ever watched “Canada’s Worst Driver” on TV? With the exception of the Albertans, every one of those people got their licence from a provincial government inspector. I’d like the NDP to explain how a public system has been demonstrated to be superior to a private one.
We get 10 – 15 trucks a day where I work (Edmonton Ab). Some weeks go by and we don’t see a single white driver. Interested to know if the other western provinces are experiencing the same.
I have family in the trucking business and have heard from them for a number of years that people were being hired as professional commercial truckers, pushed through the licensing programs and put on the road long before they were ready. Many of these new truckers are from out of the country and may not know much about our laws and expectations. We have too many new truckers who don’t even know how to back their rigs up to a load doc – you need to talk to some experienced truckers and receiving dock guys about what has been going on. I was warned that we were going to see disasters on the road because of irresponsible trucking company practise. This is where the problem is.
They’re doing to the trucking industry what they did to the taxi business.
This comment is not directly related to the post, but since it’s been brought up…
I drive about 4,500 kms per month for work, much on Ontario’s 401 highway, and I have noticed a bizarre phenomenon: Many big rig drivers are South Asian, seemingly a majority of the ones I see, and without exception I encounter them in the public washrooms at rest stops jabbering into a mobile phone headset. Always. While using the bathroom. I don’t get it. I’m American so at first I thought it was a Canuck thing, but no. Every South Asian trucker standing at a urinal or sitting in a stall and babbling on loudly in Punjabi or Hindi into their douche-tooth. Like, hi, gotta hang up for two minutes, I’ll call you back. It’s incredible.