Truck driver training a problem: McWilliams
Coun. Dan McWilliams says transport truck driving schools are damaging Peterborough’s streets and causing traffic congestion – and he’s had quite enough.
McWilliams mentioned it at City Hall last week, and then suggested council order a city staff report on how much wear and tear Peterborough roads are taking thanks to driver training schools.
He also wanted to hear from staff on whether a user fee can be charged to these schools to make up for the damage they do to roads.
“You pay, you play,” he said in an interview Monday.
Councillors gave preliminary approval to the plan to ask for the report last week. On Tuesday night at City Hall, the request for a report from staff gets a final vote from council.
McWilliams owns McWilliams Moving and Storage, which has a fleet of trucks - including 53-foot moving vans. But he says his company trains its own drivers, and he’s providing a service locally.
Not so with truck-driver training schools, he says, which don’t deliver any goods or services – they’re just using Peterborough streets as training routes.
“It’s destination nowhere,” he said. “They’re putting wear and tear on our roads with nothing else to offer.”
An online search turns up two large truck driving schools in Peterborough: Transport Training Centres of Canada (on Erskine Ave.) and Ontario Truck Training Academy (on Lansdowne St. E., across from McDonald’s).
McWilliams said he’s concerned that students and trucks come from the GTA, Belleville, Kingston and all over southern Ontario to train here.
He says trucks cause traffic congestion along Lansdowne St. and also Spill bury Dr., and he’s hearing complaints from citizens.
“There has to be some sort of user fee,” he said. “We’re training everyone in Southern Ontario – and I don’t think it’s fair.”
The city council meeting is on Tuesday this week, due to the closure of City Hall on Monday for Remembrance Day.
The Examiner’s website has livestreaming, blogging and tweets from the meeting. It begins at 6:30 p.m.