During any hockey broadcast I happen to do, I continue to mention how safe the players are when they hit the road in search of the next town that continues to attract future stars of Canada’s favorite pastime. While the accident that claimed far too many lives is still under investigation by the RCMP we are now hearing of concerns and questions arising the company that owned the Semi-Trailer in a crash that claimed the lives of 16 people. We are now hearing that a trucking company “connected” to Adesh Deol Trucking Ltd, a two-truck company operates out of a home and is the company involved in the Broncos crash has now opened at the same Calgary address as Adesh Deol Trucking. The company (Adesh Deol) is still suspended and I am hearing that one of the drivers connected to the Calgary located company is now working with the new company. A short 10 days after the suspension was issued the two directors of Quality Logistics (Kuldeep Randhawa and Baltej Singh Brar) changed the address of their company to a house in Calgary. Apparently owned by Randhawa and Sukhmander Singh and is the same address where Adesh Deol Trucking was located, so it’s not a surprise that this put in place a red flag for the Alberta Government or anyone else. The Alberta government lifted the suspension for Quality Logistics on June 1 after the company demonstrated it was in full compliance with all commercial transportation safety legislation, The Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason mentioned “It’s there understanding one of the trucks and one of the drivers listed with Adesh Deol Trucking are operating with this company.” The ministry said the driver was not the one involved in the Humboldt crash but did not say who the company is registered to. Its reported that the company has been operating since September 2017 with no convictions or collisions of any kind and that the company had a safety fitness rating of “satisfactory unaudited” a term used to describe new carriers. Scott Thomas, whose Son Evan passed away in the accident is surprised to hear that the trucking company started to recruit drivers on KIJIJI a short one month after the accident or the beginning of May. It’s interesting to note that it was only last year that the Province of Ontario became the first province to make truck-driving training mandatory. This could be a good way to make drivers aware of what they can do to prevent an accident with a big rig. There are hopes that the training will help reduce the number of truck accidents occurring and also help the trucking companies get cheaper insurance from commercial truck insurance companies due to the increased skills of their drivers. Drivers are required to take a minimum of 103 hours or roughly three weeks, of training prior to operating a big-rig. Companies also have insurance from someplace like one sure insurance to make sure that they are covered. One has to question why the Province of Saskatchewan and elsewhere training still remains optional, but other Provincial Governments such as Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are considering or pondering if they should make training mandatory. If you are looking for trucking companies in bc, it might be worth asking about the driver training. Two things come to mind, first what’s the concern and why even consider this and secondly, I don’t see any mention of British Columbia where we have some exceptional treacherous roads.

Photos of people involved in a fatal bus crash are seen before a vigil at the Elgar Petersen Arena, home of the Humboldt Broncos, in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, April 8, 2018. Jonathan Hayward/Pool via REUTERS – RC1C70853DC0