What Does a Tractor-Trailer Commercial Driver Do?

Tractor-Trailer Commercial Drivers are licensed (hold a valid Ontario AZ license under the Highway Traffic Act) to drive a commercial tractor-trailer vehicle, in order to manage the safe transportation of goods and materials on roads and highways, sometimes within Canada, or internationally into the United States and Mexico.

Job -Related Skills, Interests and Values

planning trips that may involve mapping a route to optimize travel time, fuel costs and potential hazards, as well as ensuring fuel stops, rest stops and layovers to prevent fatigue
maintaining information/documentation, including the daily log and trip data by recording data electronically (on-board computers, fax, cellular)
performing trailer operations and demonstrating defensive driving skills, particularly in extreme conditions
performing pre-trip, en-route and post-trip vehicle inspections
backing and docking tractor-trailers
coupling and uncoupling trailers
securing the load, judging path and trailer clearances
managing and adjusting vehicle speed as well as performing visual searches in various types of traffic
identifying and reporting malfunctions
preparing documents such as the driver's daily log, expense reports, customer documents to facilitate border crossing, documenting cargo on bills of lading
reading and interpreting cab instrumentation and control systems
dealing with and reporting collisions

What Preparation and Training Do You Need?

To become a Tractor-Trailer Commercial Driver you must be 18 years of age, and possess a valid Ontario AZ Driver's License under the Highway Traffic Act. Those driving tractor-trailers crossing into the United States must be 21 years of age. You must complete 2,000 hours of training that includes up to 12 weeks of mentor training, and up to 40 weeks of on-the-job training. This trade is an unrestricted trade with a Certificate of Apprenticeship granted by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities upon successful completion. Grade 10, or equivalent, is the minimum educational pre-requisite for entry.

Please click on the highlighted link to download information on a recently announced Tractor-Trailer Commercial Driver Scholarship. Click the following highlighted link to view the Press Release about the scholarship.

What’s Your Future as a Tractor-Trailer Commercial Driver?

Tractor-Trailer Commercial Drivers work non-standard hours, often alone, and may take long distance trips requiring absences from home, or they may have a standard route within a specific territory. People who work in this field must possess a strong sense of spatial orientation, visual acuity, night vision, and have an excellent driving record. They might work for owner-operators and commercial fleets of varying sizes who deliver goods (for-hire and private trucking) locally, across Canada, or internationally, to the United States and Mexico. With the increase in vehicles on the roads particularly in Southern Ontario, tractor-trailer commercial drivers must contend with high traffic volumes, traffic conditions on highways, expressways, mountain and urban roads, and adjust to extreme driving conditions (heat or cold), day or night. With the increasing volume of goods transported by trucks on highways, demand for this occupation has grown significantly in the last decade. According to an overview of Ontario's employment patterns at the following url: http://www1.on.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/ojf/ojf.jsp?lang=e&section=Overview&noc=0000, occupations requiring high school and/or occupation-specific training will account for 29 percent of projected new jobs. In this category, one of the the jobs expected to have the best prospects to 2009 is Truck Driver.

Check out the Ontario Trucking Association website for more details about future prospects in the trucking industry in a variety of jobs: http://www.ontruck.org/careers/index.html

Wage Rate

Apprentices generally earn less than fully qualified Journeypeople
Wages increase as your ability and productivity increase
You can get an idea of what people earn in this occupation by checking out the Human Resources and Development Canada Labour Market information website, click on Wages & Salaries on the navigation bar at: http://lmi-imt.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/standard.asp?pcode=lmiv_main&lcode=e
select the province and location you are interested in (leave it at ALL to see wage information throughout Ontario) and key in the occupation title: you will see that wages vary from a high of $29/hr, to a low of $12/hr

Self-Rating

Ask Yourself: Is Working as Tractor-Trailer Commercial Driver For You?

Do you have good eyesight, spatial sense and night vision?	Yes No
Do you have an excellent driving record and an Ontario AZ driver's license?	Yes No
Do you like driving and operating vehicles safely, and spending a significant amount of time on the road in all types of weather?	Yes No
Would you enjoy work that involves overnight travel,or longer absences from home?	Yes No
Can you communicate effectively with co-workers and customers, and do you pay attention to detail?	Yes No
Are you flexible and willing to adjust to customer needs?	Yes No
Are you physically able to sit for long periods of time, and able to shift up and down through all the necessary gears?	Yes No