Alexandria, Virginia – Three driver training programs concerned with driver safety and offering high quality training recently received recertification of their courses from the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI): ATDS, Elm Mott, Texas; Baker College of Cadillac, Michigan; and Houston Community College Commercial Truck Driving Center.
“We were always a school that had a training program longer than most, and we were always concerned about safety,” said Robert Hunt, director of ATDS—one of the eight schools that received the original PTDI course certification in January 1989. “In fact, we were the first school to have an onsite visit back in 1986 when the organization was known as PTDIA. PTDI was doing things that we agreed a school should do to deliver a safe driver; safety has been a main concern for us.” Hunt said that focus is one of the reasons why ATDS continues to pursue PTDI certification.
“I’d like to see more carriers look at requiring their new hires to be graduates of PTDI-certified courses,” Hunt added. “Some of these major carriers are hiring from schools that are just getting people through the system, and that’s a major concern for me when I’m driving on the highway.”
Also concerned with high-quality training and safety, Baker College of Cadillac offers “a training program that emulates the real world that drivers face,” according to Tim Baker, program director who says the new multimillion-dollar facility completed in October is unusual. “We own our own set of double trailers and a flatbed with equipment on it which enables us to instruct our students in great detail, including teaching them to put chains on tires. Our winter drivers are some of the best in the country.”
Having all four Baker College campuses with PTDI-certified courses is an advantage Baker said, “because what we lack in the ‘great up north,’ we can get by going down to our parent campus to give our students what they need.”
Because their students have access to the Michigan Center for Decision Driving (Skid Pad), driving simulators, and a diversity of equipment that trains them to work with the local logging and oil field industies, Baker College enables graduates to remain in the area. “Cadillac is mainly made up of state forests and bears, and our guys normally have to relocate when they get hired,” Baker said, “but some of our drivers go back several generations and don’t want to leave this area, so local employment is important. We are very successful in helping them stay here, and PTDI is a big part of making that happen. PTDI benefits our local economy.
“Baker College as a whole has been working closely with PTDI since we started our program,” Baker added. “There was never any doubt we would not strive to be PTDI certified. Our course was formed with PTDI in mind.”
Houston Community College also offers high-quality training at a premium facility. As Martin Garsee, director of transportation training at the program, explained, “We have eight classrooms dedicated to truck driving on a 13-acre facility designed specifically for truck driving. It’s unusual in a large city like Houston to have this type of facility, and it provides a good, safe environment to learn in. We feel very fortunate to have this type of facility in a college system.”
In addition to offering a premium facility, Garsee said he is proud of his program’s PTDI course certification. “When you can show you meet industry standards, you’re able to hold your head up high and say you’re servicing the population’s needs. Even though our resources are limited, I was willing to factor the cost of PTDI certifying our course into my budget because of the benefits of having that certification. The consistency of the PTDI program has brought us back for recertification.”
Baker said he also can easily justify the cost of PTDI certification. “When I first took this position on a year ago, I wasn’t sure about the need for PTDI certification, but I changed my perspective. Once I started talking to trucking companies and they stressed how important PTDI was to them and I started looking at programs that were not PTDI certified, it became very obvious why we wanted [certification]. My family has to drive on the same highways as these drivers. To me, truck driving is not a fall-back career; it’s a first-choice career, and you need to hold your head up and be proud of it. The more serious we take [truck driver training], the more the students can take pride in what they do.”
The current list of all schools with PTDI-certified courses can be found at www.ptdi.org.
PTDI is a national, nonprofit organization established for the twofold purpose of developing uniform industry skill, curriculum, and certification standards for entry-level truck driver training and motor carrier driver finishing programs, and certifying entry-level truck driver training courses at public and private schools and driver finishing programs at carriers for compliance with PTDI standards. PTDI is based in Alexandria, Virginia.
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