Humboldt crash leads to reforms for road tests
Standardized fees across province among proposed changes to be discussed
The province says it hopes to do away with high fees, poor service and billing scams through changes to Alberta’s road test model and registry system.
The new regulations are part of sweeping changes to Alberta’s transportation safety standards for 2019, announced last week in the wake of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.
Transportation Minister Brian Mason said reforms to the trucking industry will include introducing a mandatory entry-level training program for new truck drivers, as well as scrapping temporary 60-day safety certificates for new carriers.
But the overhaul won’t be limited to tractor trailers and the transportation companies — Mason said new rules for registries that address the province’s “broken” system will apply to all drivers and classes of licence.
Service Alberta Minister Brian Malkinson said reforms to the registry model could see driver examiners hired as government employees, which is how the province used to run road tests before the system was privatized in 1993.
Service Alberta said consultations on the road test revamp started Monday and will continue this week. The ministry said it is too early to say what the full extent of the changes will be, but Malkinson said special attention will be paid to the effect on registries in rural areas.
Craig Couillard, president of the Alberta Association of Registry agents and co-owner of Taradale Registry in Calgary, says the association met with the ministry earlier this week and both sides are committed to improving the registry system.
But Couillard said there are concerns in the industry that “repatriating ” driver examiners could cause many to retire, which could increase wait times for driving exams across the province.
“I would say on 90 per cent of the issues we’re totally aligned with what the government wants to do. Our only disagreement is whether examiners should be contractors or private employees,” he said.
Couillard said the association will make a number of recommendations to the province, including increased monitoring of examiners, assigning examiners to cover specific areas and implementing standardized road test fees across the province.
“Road test fees vary across the province. And in some areas where you have multiple markets, you’re going to have a fluctuation in pricing,” Couillard said. “In the rural areas, especially in the remote areas, it can get quite expensive to do a road test.”
The province says Alberta has the highest road test fees in the country.
An independent review of the registry system in 2016 found “serious allegations” of registry misconduct, and evidence of “inconsistent road test fees, poor service and,” in some cases, “criminal activity.”
“We want to make sure that all Albertans have access to the highest quality testing and we also want to make sure there’s no abuse,” Mason said at a news conference announcing the changes in Calgary last week. “There’s allegations, for example, of people being failed so that they have to pay a separate fee to retake a test.”
A Service Alberta spokesman called the stakeholder consultations “very productive,” and said representatives from the registry and driver examiner industries, including the Alberta Motor Association, “have provided valuable insight” on the potential changes.
“We have been clear, road safety is our top priority,” Malkinson said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure that Alberta’s driver examination model is safe, transparent and secure. That’s why we are consulting with them to find the best path forward for Albertans.”
The Alberta Motor Association declined to comment on the consultations.