In the past 18 years since I got involved in hosting a trucking show, I’ve met hundreds of interesting people and made a few friends along the way. One of my friends wears a closet full of hats. I knew him when he was about to give it all up, but then…something happened. If you listen podcasts, then I’m sure you know him. He creates a podcast too…but a whole lot more. A LOT more! His name is Bruce Outridge.  I invite you to listen to my conversation with Bruce. What's he really all about?

Women Driving Change

It seems that as time goes by, this TNT Podcast has become a promotional outlet for women in trucking and a information source for women who may want to consider a career in the trucking industry. God knows, there are plenty of magazines and podcasts covering safety, nuts & bolts and financial woes of the trucking industry.  This episode is about a magazine devoted to women in trucking.  The magazine is entitled, “Women Driving Change.” That word “driving” is a double entendre. (for people from Arkansas, that means…double meaning) Women Driving Change magazine was created in response to a growing demand for gender diversity in Canada’s professional truck driving sector. The publication’s goal is to be the voice of women behind the wheel, beneath the hood, running dispatch, organizing the office, selling the supplies, and all points in between.

And maybe, the Women Driving Change Magazine can reach women who never considered a career in trucking. After all, the trucking industry has a long way to go to come around to recognizing that women have an import role to play in this multi- billion dollar industry.

My guest on this TNT Podcast episode is Shannon Savory, Editor in- Chief at the Women Driving Change magazine.  Thanks to Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent

Classic Thinking & Trucking Women

We like to think that as a society we have come a long way.  As much as we protest about racism and the lack of gender equality, you must admit that we’ve advanced since the 50’s and 60’s.  Back then, it was assumed that women were expected to stay home and be a “housewife” and the “man of the house” went to work.  On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with that arrangement, as long as both parties are happy. Unfortunately, that family model grew to be imposed on women. You know, “stay home…barefoot and pregnant.”  

While our overall attitudes towards women in the workplace and in politics has changed for the better, it clearly has not come far enough…especially in a few industries. One of these being the transportation industry…and specifically, the trucking industry.  Some of the attitudes towards women from a few trucking fleet owners falls into that 1950’s good ole buy redneck image of women. We may love our classic trucks, but the classic thinking needs to go. Women have proven themselves over and over, as mechanics, architects, engineers, firefighters, scientists, fighter jet pilots, astronauts, doctors, steel workers and professional transport operators…uh, that’s “truck driver” for the guy who is still lost in the fifties. The TNT special guest this week is here to remind us for the successes of women in trucking and unfortunately share stories of some of the roadblocks to women still being erected by some fleet owners…the very same owners whining about a driver shortage. My guest is Shelley Walker, Founder and CEO of the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada.  This podcast is possible thanks to Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent. Listen!

Kim and the School Rules

Remember MELT. Kim Richardson says it MELT has MELTED.

A few weeks ago, I talked to Andy Roberts, the owner at Mountain Lake Transport Institute about the their problems attracting driver students in a world where some questionable schools are offering driving courses at half price or less and graduating them in half the time, which allows dramatically poorly trained people behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound vehicle on our highways…and in western Canada, that could mean on icy mountain roads.

Nowhere is this as big a problem as in southern Ontario…the epicenter of trucking in Canada. There are now around 300 truck driving schools.  How does a wannabe truck driver know which ones are good and lead to a good paying job with a great company, and which one will take them down the alley to a bad unsafe trucking company and maybe eventually to a catastrophic crash. Advice to anyone who wants to drive professionally…do your homework!  You have to know that if the training school is offering a deal that seems to good to be true and shorter hours than everyone else…you are destined for eventually failure…or worse.

Enough about my view from the outside. I talk to a guy who knows about trucking schools better than just about anybody…and not only about the schools but the companies that hire the unsafe, uneducated driver. It’s my old friend Kim Richardson, the co-founder of Kim Richardson Transportation Specialists with his wife Lisa in 1989. We know it as KRTS.

Thanks to our friends at Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent.

Donald, the Prophesy & Crap

Okay, there is no simple way to describe this TNT podcast. It begins with a prophesy then segues to an interview with trucking journalist and driver, Jim Park about Music City, the Trump tariffs and saving trucking costs and the earth with cow crap. Yes, we are all over the map on this one. You just have to listen.

Fabiana – The Rescue Lady

“Disaster and Pandemonium on the highway.”  Big rigs off the road and trailers upside down. Who you gonna call? Rescue 51 and Fabiana!

It can be a mess out there and it’s not getting better. Much of the carnage is due to the growing number of unsafe poorly trained drivers released onto our highways. Some drivers churned out by crappy driving schools have never driven on ice and snow….so, they end up in the woods, sometimes rolled over and in worst case scenario, injured or killed, not to mention the damage and/or loss of the vehicle and cargo. So who is going to get them back on the road again. Well, at least get the truck back on the road. The driver is another issue.

My guest is Fabiana Quinteros. To be more exact is it Fabiana Quinteros Ireland, along with his partner husband they own Rescue 51 Towing & Recovery just outside Barrie Ontario. Fabiana is not just a pretty face in the office…she gets out there in the ditches and the weeds in the cold winter nights with guys hauling a tractor trailer out trouble.  Fabiana did not grow up with wintery nights. She is originally from Uruguay in South America.  I will talk to Fabiana.

Thanks to Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent.

Bon School-Bad School

There has been a lot of talk and deep concern within the trucking industry about the rapid growth of quickie cut rate trucking schools releasing poorly trained drivers onto our highways. It is not only a concern to the trucking industry, but it should be a concern to every driver whether a trucker or four-wheeler. Those poorly trained drivers are often hired by equally shady trucking companies operating unsafe equipment and therefore offering rates far below standing rates…meaning unfair competition. Some shippers and receivers don’t care as long as they get their stock quickly and a good price. There is now another victim…the reputable truck driving schools. Young potential truckers and often immigrants just want to get their license as quickly and cheaply as possible. They make a choice between a $3500 school versus a 10,000-dollar school, one that gets you in and out the door and to your license on less than half the time. Meanwhile, the reputable school’s classroom size drops dramatically.  In fact, some classes had to be cancelled. Talked to one very reputable school in western Canada. It might the best school in Canada. It’s the Mountain Transport Institute. They even have students come from the US to train there. The owner is Andy Roberts.

Thanks to by Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent.

50% FEMALE TRUCKERS – PINK POWER!

Every once in a blue moon someone comes along that gets you fired up and excited. They are forward thinking creative people to break the “we’ve always done it this way” mold in the very conservative trucking industry. In a search for someone to talk to me about the crooked truck driving schools, I connected with a lady who sounded excited to be in the trucking industry but also hell bent of changing attitudes and killing stereotypes. Her name is Isabelle Fournier. She works for the huge Contrans Group as a Recruitment & Marketing Specialist…but she also wears another hat. Maybe my enthusiasm to invite Isabelle to talk to me on the TNT Podcast is because she and I agree on a couple issues that I have sounded off about for the past 10 years. One, the is the less than appealing image of the trucker by the public, and how few efforts have been made to polish that image. I have great respect for the successful business leaders in trucking. Many are former truckers themselves, but their skill set is in moving goods and handing business and employees etc.  Creativity and imagination is not a required asset for the job…unless recently. My guest fills that role exceptionally well, and her efforts have paid off. Thanks  to great people at Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent…and Diesel Treat, a Diesel Anti-Gel & Fuel Conditioner.

TNT-Podcasts as available at www.trucknewstalk.com

as well as on iHeart, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Deezer, Libsyn and more

LUCKY CHUCK’S SCHOOL OF TRUCKING

Are you impressed by that unbelievable chance to drive a tractor trailer up and down our highways without having to deal with all those pesky rules and regulations? And safety? What’s the big deal with safety when the load just has to be there, and you make a decent dollar.  

Okay, maybe I am being a little over dramatic…or maybe not. Back when we produced the Trucker Radio Show, we invented a bogus crooked driving school, we called, “Lucky Chucks School of Trucking.”  Well, it might have been a make-believe trucking school, but it was pretty close to reality.

Lately, there has been an increased concern regarding the number of shady fly-by-night driving schools turning out unqualified drivers onto our highways, often resulting in injuries and loss of life, not to mention loss of equipment and cargo. Especially in the Mississauga and Brampton area in Ontario, unscrupulous truck training schools are offering cut rate truck driver training courses to get a prospective driver just enough info and training to pass a test.  While the Torontoland area is in the epicenter of these scam schools, it does happen elsewhere across the country. The one possible exception seems to be in the province of Quebec, although a small handful of shady schools exist. There is a good reason why crooked truck driving schools are almost non-existent is Quebec. That difference between Quebec and the rest of the country raises an important issue…sorry…question.  I wanted to find out more about what makes Quebec different, when it comes to professional driver training and why the whole country doesn’t follow. I talked to Steve Bouchard. He is an Editor at Newcom Media’s Transport Routier in Montreal.  That conversation is coming up right after this message from Howes Products, makers of Diesel Defender, a diesel Fuel Lubricator & Injector cleaner with advanced IDX4 Detergent

THE GHOSTS OF TRUCKER RADIO

The Trucker Radio Show was a syndicated program that combined music, news, information, interviews, and entertainment, airing for 17 years on radio stations across Canada and the USA. What was its mission? Did it truly benefit truck drivers and the trucking industry, or was there a strategy that was misunderstood? Did we waste our time? Absolutely not! Above all, we enjoyed ourselves for most of those 17 years. Our guests included truckers, fleet owners, critics, and supporters, each bringing their unique perspectives.

In this TNT Podcast, we will showcase some of the voices from our guests. Some were serious, many provided valuable insights, and a few were quite entertaining. Perhaps you were one of those voices.

Join us as we present a medley of familiar voices from the years since 2006. You might hear their thoughts for the first time.

We extend our gratitude to Howes Products for being our longest-standing supporter, almost from the very beginning.