The Provincial government is shaking up the way commercial truck drivers are trained.

The tragedy of the Humboldt Broncos crash with a transport truck that claimed the lives of 16 people has also sparked concern over Class 1 licence requirements.

James Russo has recently retired from the trucking industry and spent many years testing new drivers. He welcomed the changes noting in the past drivers could often find loopholes to make the certification process easier.

"If you lived in the country, you could be tested in a small town," he says. "To us, that was just a joke."

"Just because you can drive in a little country community doesn't mean you can drive in the city," he says. "That was always a concern to some of us doing the tests. We did the best we could to test the person, but it wasn't a good test of their abilities to handle an intersection or traffic lights."

Another of his concerns surrounds out-of-country truck drivers who aren't necessarily ready for winter roads. "Some will take a driving test in spring, and by the end of the summer they've got a class one licence and they've never even seen snow."

The government of Manitoba is currently consulting on the implementation of a standardized system of training and certification for commercial truck drivers.

"Our first priority is public safety on roadways and that is why we are announcing that we have started work across government to consider how a standardized system could work for the trucking industry," Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler said in a release. "This is something the trucking industry has asked for and we want to work together in a collaborative way to see how this would work in Manitoba."

A standardized system of training would allow for a uniform standard for all truck drivers across the province and would allow road safety to be the number one priority in issuing licenses.

Other jurisdictions, such as Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, have either already changed their standard or are in process of working and engaging with stakeholders in upgrading to this standard.

"It is clear that Manitoba needs to start this work to ensure that all provinces are moving together on a standardized system of training," Schuler added. "This work is beginning immediately and we hope to move forward with a plan of action as soon as possible."