Consultations continue on road-test revamp
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.
Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason said reforms to the trucking industry will include a mandatory entry-level training program for new truck drivers, and an end to temporary 60-day safety certificates for new carriers.
Mason said new rules for registries will address the province’s “broken” system and will apply to all drivers and classes of licence.
Service Alberta said consultations on a road test revamp started on 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 Service Alberta Minister Brian Malkinson said special attention will be paid to the impact 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.
“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 (driver) examiners should be contractors or private employees,” he said.
Couillard said the association will be making 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.
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.”
A Service Alberta spokesperson 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.