Petition calls for new rules for safer roads

The Humboldt Broncos tragedy has put road safety top of mind.

Pattie Fair lost her husband in a crash involving an inexperienced truck driver in Ontario in 2017. She since has started a petition calling for changes to the trucking industry that will make it safer.

Among other things, she wants trucking to be considered a professional trade.

“This is a highly skilled trade. We need to give the industry the respect that it deserves,” Fair said.

She is asking for drivers seeking Class 1 licences to undergo federally regulated, mandatory entry-level training.

“They are obtaining a licence, a Class 1, in say Saskatchewan in July with a day cap and a flat deck. They take that very same licence and they can haul logs across mountain passes in B.C. in the dead of winter,” Fair said.

She would like to see a graduated licensing program to keep that from happening. She also would like to see training facilities be monitored and audited.