AREA TRUCK-DRIVING COURSE OFFERED

ULLIN, Ill. -- Larry Choate has not seen the list of students for Shawnee Community College's truck driving course, but it would come as no surprise to see a female student or two in the crowd.

"More women are attending truck driving school these days," said Choate, who is dean of instruction at the college, located near Ullin. "A lot of trucking firms are putting emphasis on husband/wife driving teams."

Choate said the truck driving course at Shawnee is in its sixth year. Several of its graduates have been women.

In 1990, 39 of 215 truck driving graduates from the country's oldest truck-driving school Portland's Commercial Training Services Inc. were women. Two decades ago, the entire graduating class at Portland consisted of men.

"There's not as much resistance to women as truck drivers now as 15 to 20 years ago," said Choate. "The women are proving that they can be good, safe drivers."

Choate added that women have to work harder to prove themselves as driver.

"It would probably be safe to say that most women drivers are better drivers than men," said one truck driver. "They have to work about three times as hard to prove themselves."

In 1989, there were more than 11,000 women truck drivers on the road, says Michael J. Arendes, a transportation economist with the American Truckers' Association, headquartered in Alexandria, Va.

"Our truck driving curriculum here has been upgraded," said Choate, of the Shawnee program. "It now meets the standards for national certification. It's a full 16 credit hour course."

Choate said management and health and safety courses are included in the curriculum.

The course includes more than 40 hours of actual truck driving around the Shawnee campus, and "some over-the-road" driving, said Choate.

"Students taking the course are eligible for financial aid," said Choate."

A total of seven or eight students are expected to enroll in the class, which started Friday.

"There are some requirements to be eligible for the program," said Choate. "Students must be 21 years of age, meet vision and hearing requirements, have a high school diploma or GED.

Students also must be able to pass a drug screening test to comply with federal regulations, and be free of any convictions of a felony involving the use of a motor vehicles.

All drivers men and women must learn how to change tires, oil or diesel filters and do safety checks.