Kamloops Chamber highlights call for better truck driver training
KAMLOOPS — A damning report from BC’s auditor general has the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce renewing its call for more training programs for commercial truck drivers.
The report from Auditor General Carol Bellringer stated though commercial vehicles constitute just three per cent of vehicles on BC highways, they are involved in nearly 20 per cent of fatal crashes.
President Joshua Knaak says the chamber first adopted the lobbying position pushing for more training in 2016, spurred by the trucking industry itself.
“The trucking industry was saying, ‘First of all, we need to attract more drivers and in order to do that, we need to make this a more qualified position,’” said Knaak. “There were a number of recommendations that came out of that. One of them was actually the trucking industry themselves saying, ‘We need to boost the amount of training that goes into this.’”