The Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) recently recertified three truck-driver training programs in Michigan and Texas: a driver training course offer by Cadillac, MI-based Baker College s well as one offered by ATDS in Elm Mott, TX, plus another provided by the 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,” he added. “PTDI was doing things that we agreed a school should do to deliver a safe driver; safety has been a main concern for us. I’d like to see more carriers look at requiring their new hires to be graduates of PTDI-certified courses
Baker College goes even a step further by offering a broad range of equipment types for prospective drivers to train with. According to Tim Baker, the college’s program director, the school put the finishing touches on a multimillion-dollar facility in October that includes a set of double trailers and a flatbed, along with a Skid Pad and driving simulators, and a diversity of equipment that trains them to work with the local logging and oil field industries.
Houston Community College, noted Martin Garsee, director of transportation training, has eight classrooms dedicated to truck training, with 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,” he said.
