Larry Ash, a trucker for over 25 years, grabbed his CB radio after another semi veered into an oncoming lane – across two solid lines – on a blind corner to pass him on a British Columbia highway.
“I said, ‘Buddy, you just lost your license,’” Ash recalled. “He never said a word.”
Ash, however, did get responses from authorities and the other driver’s employer after he posted high-definition dash cam footage of the August 10 incident on Twitter. British Columbia’s Ministry of Transportation referred the case to commercial vehicle enforcement authorities, while the carrier, Stryder, said it fired the driver.
“We have identified the driver in the video and taken him out of service – he will never drive for us again,” Stryder Canada tweeted. “We apologize to everyone affected by this misconduct as it is not reflective of our company’s values or safety policy.”
For Ash, 57, a driver and instructor with more than 3.7 million safe miles under his belt, the response vindicated his hobby of posting dash cam videos of bad driving online. Ash also sends videos to transport authorities and carriers. This marked the first time that Ash knows of another driver being fired as a result of his videos.
Ash drives long-haul routes for Evolution Environmental based out of Brooks, Alberta. He started posting dashcam videos on Twitter over the past six months in response to what he sees as an “epidemic” of bad driving.
“When you get a semi crossing a double line, around a blind corner, on a hill, you shouldn’t be driving a semi,” Ash said.
“It wasn’t even the worst one,” he added.
“When you get a semi crossing a double line, around a blind corner, on a hill, you shouldn’t be driving a semi.”
– Larry Ash, truck driver
But he doesn’t report every incident of bad driving he sees. “I’m not going to turn in every idiot,” he said.
On August 10, Ash was driving his Volvo about 25 miles per hour uphill, weighing in at over 130,000 pounds with a load of glass bound for Alberta. He estimates that the other driver gained about 60 seconds by passing him.
The incident, he said, reflects an overemphasis of speedy deliveries over safety.
“It’s absolutely getting worse. Everyone wants stuff now,” Ash said. “It’s not like the olden days. Everything is now, now, now, now.”
Ash’s videos have gotten some negative comments from people identifying themselves as drivers. Ash plans to upgrade his truck’s video setup by adding two-rear facing cameras.
He is unapologetic. “I’m saving lives ultimately,” Ash said. “I hope this catches on.”
Noble1
The guy in the red truck lacks good judgement and should retire . He should have slowed down and or even pull onto the shoulder a bit as a safety precaution to let his “comrade” conclude his move safely .
I’ll just label the driver in the red truck as an ignorant “careless” driver in this event . Very bad judgement call on his part . And if that were not enough , he then taunts the driver in the blue truck on the CB . That red truck driver is a careless driver putting others in danger , ,lacks ethics , and is a disgrace !
In my humble opinion ………….
Dab
Wow that’s real big of you to post the new Canadian in a big rush, why don’t you send the videos to all the premieres, can’t forget trudy, they need reminders that the policy of silence, do nothing is not working. The governments need to step up and fix there blunders. Fraud, unliscenced, untrained operators, and not to forget shady carriers.ontario is trying, they use to be the worst, now the bragging there the best. How much damage control did Ontario really do?
Years ago I pulled in the Golden Bc scale, 4 leaky wheel seals, bad brakes, lights. Went in the scale asked for a inspection. The scale master came out, shocked, told me to leave, if he was to shut me down, 14 days days tops, the polititions would be all over him cause he’s picking on a Kelowna company based in Lethbridge.
Dazed Confused And Totally Misplaced
I am a former OTR long haul driver in tbe States that has a million plus miles safe driving plus worked in Safety Department training new hires for a year. A professional driver has to be constantly aware of their surroundings and it is their duty to predict possible accident situations so that they can avoid them and make them merely close calls. Common sense would have been that the faster truck would be out of the way in time for the slower truck to safely move back out into normal traffic lane and it is sheer idiocy that the slower driver caused such an unsafe driving condition by reacting selfishly… There was plenty of time for the faster truck to pass him prior to his lane ending so posting of this video and costing another driver his job was plain spiteful.