Editor's note: Mr. Gilbert writes in response to the BayToday article Northern MPP calls out fraudulent licensing of untrained commercial vehicle drivers in Ontario.
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To the editor:
First off, let me thank you for bringing this to the attention of the general public.
I am a licensed transport driver trained at the Ontario Truck Driving School in London Ontario.
Seeing how the drivers of both highway transports and dump trucks handle their units on a daily basis is astonishing. Driving with feet on the dash, headphones in their ears, cell phone in their hands all the while driving 20 feet behind a family in a minivan!
At 60mph or 100 kmh, there is no way that the driver of the transport can perform an emergency evade maneuver without hitting the van. Not only that, since there seems to be a strong interest in the middle lane they have nowhere to go to perform any maneuver.
During my training, I was told that WHEN you get into an accident you have a split second to decide.....ditch or death. This means that as a truck driver, your survivability going into a ditch is far greater than the survivability of the passenger vehicle that you will hit.
Just so you know, a dump truck with 3 rear axles on the ground can weigh as much as 35,000kg (77100 pounds) and some highway transports can weigh as much as 120,000 pounds. These stop in yards, and passenger vehicles stop in feet. You can not beat physics!
Have an awesome day
Michael Gilbert
Aylmer Ontario
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