Rick August, PhD
Vernon, British Columbia, Canada V1T 4A3, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
SPECIFIC SKILLS
• PhD in legal history and traffic safety (see below).
• 2 decades CDL experience with trucks & buses (Canada, United States & Australia)
• Smart Drive Test YouTube channel with 100,000 subscribers averaging more than 100,000 minutes watch time per day.
Videos teach road test success, defensive driving, & complete CDL career information.
• Smart Drive Test offers online driver education courses (commercial & passenger).
• Licence commercial driving instructor in Canada and Australia since 1997.
• Eight years teaching & mentoring experience (novice & experienced drivers, people with disabilities, post-secondary).
• Extensive experience developing & delivering curriculum; and interpreting legislation & policy.
• Established negotiation, problem solving, and effective decision-making ability.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and conflict resolution skills.
• Works well independently or within a team.
• Valid British Columbia Licence with no convictions, Class 1,6 (tractor-trailer, airbrakes, motorcycle).
• Thirty years Class 1 driving experience with a wide range of equipment.
• Expert use of computers, GPS & satellite tracking units, electronic log books and other navigational tools.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Expert Witness Testimony
Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers, Toronto, ON, Canada
Investigated and reported on CDL vehicle crashes 2017-2018 involving transit buses and pedestrians.
Patricoski Law Offices, Weaton, IL, USA
Ongoing investigation and trial preparation for a rear-end tractor-trailer crash on interstate (2019).
Brian M. Micner, B.A, L.L.B., Toronto, ON, Canada
Client charged with Dangerous Driving Causing Bodily Harm. With my report, driver convicted of a dangerous action with a conditional discharge.
Adjunct Professor
The University of British Columbia—Okanagan, Kelowna, Canada
CONTEMPORARY WORLD FROM 1900 TO WAR II—HIST 115 2006–2008
CONTEMPORARY WORLD FROM WORLD WAR II TO PRESENT—HIST 145 2006–2009
UNITED STATES SINCE 1865—HIST 221-002 2007–2008
CRIME, LAW & PUNISHMENT IN CANADA –—HIST 495H 2006–2008
THE VIETNAM WAR 1945–1975—HIST 412B 2007
THE HISTORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE IN NORTH AMERICA—HIST 460B 2007
WAR AND SOCIETY FROM THE 18TH TO 20TH CENTURIES—HIST 473 2006–2009
ORAL HISTORY AND LIFE STORIES (CANADA)—HIST 495I 2007
Sessional Teaching: TEACHING ASSISTANT
The University of Melbourne and Monash University, Victoria, Australia
‘USA & THE WORLD’—2ND/3RD YEAR COURSE 2006
‘CONTEMPORARY WORLDS—THE WORLD DURING THE TWENTIETH CENTURY’—1ST YEAR COURSE 2006
‘GOD THROUGH HISTORY’—2ND/3RD YEAR COURSE 2005
‘HITLER’S NAZI GERMANY’—2ND/3RD YEAR COURSE 2003
EDUCATION
THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA 2006
Ph.D. — History
Dissertation: “Intersections of Conflict: Policing & Criminalising
Melbourne’s Traffic 1890 – 1930”
Available from: http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/1596
The thesis examined the traffic revolution that occurred in the forty years after 1890 as road traffic transitioned from animal-drawn to motor-vehicles. Melbourne, Australia served as a case study.
The focus of the work examined the 500% increase in average road speeds and the consequent impact on law, policing, and public policy.
In the conflict that ensued between motorists’ desire to travel at higher road speeds and authorities’ mandate to maintain an acceptable level of public safety and public order, the analysis concluded that new policies and legislation, in fact, facilitated higher road speeds.
THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO, CANADA 2001
B.A. (Honors) — English & Women’s Studies
DRIVING INSTRUCTOR LICENSES & CERTIFICATES
Valid British Columbia (BC) Air Brake Assessment Officer Sept 2013
Approved Instructor Training Course (ITC) Instructor May 2012
Valid BC Driver Training Instructor’s Licence
(1,2,3,4, 5/7, Theory & Practical – GLP) July 2008
BC & Ontario Air Brake Instructor July 2008
AUGUST DRIVING SCHOOL
ONLINE DRIVING SCHOOL 2016-present
www.youtube.com/c/smartdrivetest
Smart Drive Test offers online driver education courses (commercial & passenger).
COMMERCIAL TRAINING & DRIVING EXPERIENCE
DRIVING INSTRUCTOR, WEB DESIGN, CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT & SALES 2010-2013
CSTT DRIVER TRAINING, SIDNEY, BC (BUS, TRUCK & CAR)
POLICY ANALYST
ICBC – DRIVER LICENCING POLICY AND DRIVER TRAINING 2011
DRIVER TRAINER & INTERSTATE BUS DRIVER 2002–2005
GREYHOUND, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
DRIVING INSTRUCTOR (BUS & TRUCK) 2000–2002
ONTARIO TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL, LONDON
DRIVER REHABILITATION SPECIALIST (BUS, TRUCK & CAR) 2000–2002
ST. JOSEPH’S HEALTH CARE, LONDON, ON
SAFETY OFFICER, OTTAWA, ON
MEILLEUR TRANSPORT 1998-2000
SAFETY & TRAINING CONSULTANT
LONDON TRANSIT COMMISSION, LONDON, ON 1998
TRUCK DRIVER
YOUR ADVANTAGE STAFFING, CAMBRIDGE, ON 1993–1998
PUBLICATIONS
Refereed Articles
“Spinning Our Wheels: The inability of traffic policy to change driver behaviour.” 2006, Traffic [University of Melbourne’s Post-Graduate Journal], No. 8, 2006, 87–116. (7000 words)
“Police & Presence: The Victoria Police and Perceptions of Authority 2006, 1900 – 1930.” Canadian Journal of History, Vol. 41, No. 1, Spring-Summer 2006, 23–46. (6000 words)
“The Fast and the Furious: The Victoria Police and Changing Definitions of Speed and Speeding 1900 – 1930.” Automotive History Review, Spring, no. 45 (2006): 4–13. (6000 words)
“Keeping Order: Motor-Car Regulation and the Defeat of Victoria’s 1905 Motor 2004 Car Bill,” Provenance: The Journal of Public Record Office Victoria, No.3; [2004]. (6000 words)
Encyclopedia Entries
“Fordism” & “The Assembly Line.” In The Encyclopedia of the Industrial Feb 2008 Revolution in World History. Eds. Dr. Kenneth E. Hendrickson and Dr. Glenn Sanford. New York: Facts on File. (2000 words)
“Motorcycles.” In The Encyclopedia of Melbourne, edited by Andy Brown-May 2005 & Shurlee Swain, 491. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge UP, 2005. (100 words)
Conference Papers
Australia and New Zealand Law & History Society (New Zealand) Jul 2005 “Smith v. Boon (1901): Origins of a Mechanised Traffic Management System”, pgs. 156 – 159.
International Committee for Preservation of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Sept 2005 “Hardening of the City: Road Crashes Drive the Implementation of Predictable Traffic Patterns.”
Royal Automobile Club of Victoria Centenary “Keeping Order: Motor-Car Regulation and the Defeat of Victoria’s 1905 Motor 2004 Car Bill”, pgs. 1–28.
Book Reviews
Laura Huey. Negotiating Demands: The Politics of Skid Row Policing in Edinburgh, 2008 San Francisco, and Vancouver. University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 2007. BC Studies, Summer 2008, 131-133.
Graeme Davison and Sheryl Yelland. Car Wars: How the Car Won Our Hearts and 2004 Conquered Our Cities. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2004. The Melbourne Historical Journal, v. 32, 85.
Media Exposure
Interview “Bylaw Officers and Vernon’s Public Safety & Public Order”: 107.5 KISS FM. September, 2007.
Seymour, Ron. “Technology seen as only hope for multi-tasking motorists. The Sunday Okanagan, 14 January 2007, 1. Interview based on “Driver Education Not Enough”: cfax1070—Victoria’s News Authority. 28 November 2006, 5.10–6.00pm. Interview by Terry Moore, host of ‘Afternoon Drive’.
Canadian Radio Broadcasting Corporation Radio Interview concerning above article. Aired 20 November 2006, 7.15–7.25am. Interviewed by Marion Barschel, host of ‘Daybreak’ on 88.9 FM.
Mortenson, Bud. “Driver Education Not Enough: For safer roads we must turn to technology, says researcher.” UBC Reports, 2 November 2006, 1.
Publication Awards
Canadian Journal of History, Awarded first prize in Graduate Essay Competition 2006
Automotive History Review, Awarded first prize in Graduate Essay Competition. (Michigan, USA) 2005
Postgraduate Awards
Post-Graduate Conference Award 2005
