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| Learning how to change tyres is part of a new 15-week course at the College of Western Idaho. |
For young people, who were born to the internet and can do their research, are just not that into driving long hours, living weeks away from home in a smelly cab, to then take home as little as $1,600. This is what short-haul contractors who work in the ports in Los Angeles say they take home after deducting typical maintenance costs on a rig doing a hard month's hauling.
The shortage of experienced drivers is affecting not only in North America, but all developed countries where strict policing, busy roads and demerit licensing systems prevent drivers from learning the job on the fly on the traditional truckers career path -- to start working cheaply for haul-by-night outfit and work your up way up to Hazchem status.
The shortage of experienced drivers is affecting not only in North America, but all developed countries where strict policing, busy roads and demerit licensing systems prevent drivers from learning the job on the fly on the traditional truckers career path -- to start working cheaply for haul-by-night outfit and work your up way up to Hazchem status.
For a trucker working his way up this ladder, the average annual salary driving in Idaho was a lot more than the $20k short haulers claim they get in Los Angeles. Idaho truckers on average get $35,800, said the Idaho Trucking Association. Yet Julie Pipal, the CEO of the Idaho Trucking Association, (est 1937), said new drivers are not signing up. And the American trucking association said there is a current shortage of 25,000 drivers in the 'States.
Which is where Idaho's grey heads got together to change the status of drivers by training them better and then providing shorter routes. The College of Western Idaho (CWI) and the truckers got together to offer a training course for truckers using simulators -- just as The Driver is preaching.
The college has designed a three-phased, 15-week Professional Truck Driving programme that starts with theory, then progresses into simulator training, where students learn in simulations how to respond to icy roads, strong winds, tire blow-outs and merging the rig into highway traffic, before moving on to practice, during which the students log over 300 kilometres in a typical day's driving.
The college has designed a three-phased, 15-week Professional Truck Driving programme that starts with theory, then progresses into simulator training, where students learn in simulations how to respond to icy roads, strong winds, tire blow-outs and merging the rig into highway traffic, before moving on to practice, during which the students log over 300 kilometres in a typical day's driving.
Under customised courses, the Idaho College website states: "When it comes to training solutions, you know that one size definitely does not fit all. That’s why CWI is here to partner with your business to design custom training programs that fill skill gaps or create new skill sets in your workforce. A trained and skillful workforce leads to increased productivity and a positive impact on your bottom line.
