Ever since the Humbolt tragedy, there have been calls from all corners of the province, to standardize Semi Truck Driver training. Back in December of 2018 Mister Hargrave, the Minister in charge of SGI announced that new rules and regulations would be coming in March. As the March 15th deadline fast approaches we talked with SGIs Tyler McMurchy to get all the information about the upcoming changes.

"Starting March 15th drivers who are seeking a class 1 commercial license in Saskatchewan will be required to undergo a minimum of 121.5 hours of training. That change was announced in December by Minister Hargrave and the goal is to make our roads safer for commercial truck drivers and anyone who shares the road with them."

There have been truck driver training schools in Saskatchewan for years but until the law goes into effect they have all been optional and any person could at anytime challenge the road test with no prior training. Since the announcement by the province, SGI has seen an increase of people attempting to take the road test before mandatory training becomes the law. McMurchy explains.

"We have seen an uptick and that was expected. Whenever there's a change in a program that requires people to put more into there applications this can be expected. but yes it was expected that there would be an increase in the number of people who would try to get in under the current system. So just to give you an example, from December 4th to February 20th of this year there have been 1122 road tests done for drivers seeking their class 1A. Over that same period 1 year prior it was 509 so there has been a surge and it was something that was anticipated."

Another part of the new legislation that had some people concerned was the training exemption for Farmers in the province. McMurchy goes on to explain what Farmers can expect come March 15th.

"If somebody is planning on driving a semi in farm operations, drivers do have the option to get what is called an F endorsement on their driver's license.  What that means is they are not required to take the 121.5 hours of training but there are some limitations. They still have pass all the tests, they still have to pass the enhanced test come March 15th and they still have to pass a written and road test. they are also limited to driving in the province of Saskatchewan. But that is one thing that is still being looked at and there are likely going to be changes announced, the government has announced they are examining this. They're not ruling out mandatory training but they have to find a balance of what level of mandatory training is necessary for someone who is not a full-time semi driver, so that is something that will likely be announced in the future."

Saskatchewan is the only province that will have a mandatory training program that exempts farmers.