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A Follow Up to A Northern Plan for Highway Safety

jvanthofco

Let's get this fixed Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria. Everyone applying for an Ontario driver’s license needs to be tested by an MTO certified independent tester, not a trucking company. A first step, an easy step. Let’s do it now. Skilled Truckers Canada Group Truckers for Safer Highways Hwy 11/17 kills people - La route 11/17 tue des gens Hwy 11/17 closures and updates Northern Ontario CLOSED Roads ONLY NORTHERN ONTARIO INFORMATION STATION Northern Ontario Traffic Alerts - Alertes Routiers CTV Northern Ontario



See my Statement below, "A Follow Up on A Northern Highway Safety Plan"



It has been just over a week since I released a discussion document called “A Northern Strategy for Highway Safety” along with MPP Guy Bourgouin and MPP Lise Vaugeois. The response has been overwhelming with countless comments, ideas, and differences of opinion coming from many different people. The common denominator is that Northerners know that changes need to be made, and that there are some changes that can be implemented immediately. It was encouraging that many recognized that not everything can be fixed overnight and some barriers to implementation were also identified. In the updated plan, we have included some of the proposed changes and potential barriers. This plan is intended to be a living document, something that we can work with, and not just gather dust on some shelf.



Although the plan is divided into short-term, medium-term and long-term action, there is one issue that everyone agrees must be changed immediately.


Currently in Ontario, there are over 100 commercial trucking companies, some affiliated with driving schools, and career colleges who recruit, train, and test their own drivers. That’s right, they never have to get independently tested. Their pass rate is 95% whereas the pass rate at Drive Test is 65%. Unsurprisingly, some of these companies cause the most commercial vehicle accidents (Ontario Auditor General Report 2018). Your teen needs to get an independent driving test to drive a car, but people can get a commercial license to drive a 40-ton truck on the same highway as your child without one. That must stop - now.



The government needs to change the law so that everyone applying for a driver’s license in Ontario must be tested by an MTO certified independent tester. Everyone.



This can be changed right now. A short time ago, Minister Sarkaria announced that people entering this country on a visitor’s Visa could no longer apply for a commercial vehicle license. The fact that this was happening at all shows how much abuse there is in the driving system. The Minister basically announced that they were no longer going to allow current laws to be broken. The real step is to change a decades old law that is being abused and putting our families at risk.



Everyone applying for an Ontario driver’s license needs to be tested by an MTO certified independent tester. A first step, an easy step. Let’s do it now.





Feel free to comment. It helps us and we appreciate it. MPP Bourgouin and I will be going live on Facebook the evening of Monday January 20th to talk with constituents and get more feedback. Follow my Facebook page, John Vanthof, to join in.



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