TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL: FOUR SCHOOSL IN TRI-STATE AREA PROVIDING TRUCKERS FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY

A student truck driver performed a simulated dock parking exercise at Commercial Driver Training Academy in Sikeston.

Gay St. Mary, right, is president of Commercial Driver Training Academy. Leo McElrath IV, left, is the lead instructor, and James Shanagher is vice president of sales and marketing.

Truck drivers are in demand.

The trucking industry is a major force in the United States. The nation spends more than $120 billion annually to transport goods by truck. The United States has more than 40 million trucks on the road, and some of these trucks have as many as 20 forward gears and four reverse gears.

During any given year, there is a need for 200,000 to 250,000 drivers.

The trucking industry employs more than 7 million people, more than any other private industry in the country. And more than 2.5 million of the trucking employees are drivers. Other workers in the industry include dispatchers, freight handlers, loading dock and warehouse workers, mechanics and office workers.

A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics survey reported that a tractor-truck driver in this area earns about $635 weekly. That translates into $33,000 a year.

"Truck drivers can earn from $25,000 to $50,000 a year," said Jack Roberts, of the Shawnee Community College Truck Driving Department.

The Shawnee College truck-driving school is one of four training programs in the immediate tri-state area, offering a 10-week curriculum that includes more than 40 hours of actual truck driving around the campus and "some over-the-road" driving.

Private truck driving schools, which provide three-week training sessions, are at Paducah, Ky., and Sikeston, Mo.

Franklin Truck Driving School, has sites at 2012 E. Malone in Sikeston, and 3360 Park Ave. in Paducah.

The Commercial Driver Training Academy is on Highway 60 East, a half-mile off Interstate 55.

Classes are always full here, said Gay St. Mary, of the Commercial Academy.

We offer a customized training program, .

The Commercial program lasts three weeks and offers 160 clock hours, good for CDL certification, a requirement for truck drivers.

Commercial students spend 50 hours in the classroom, 10 hours in the lab and the remaining 100 hours driving trucks, in the yard and on the road.

Students in private truck driving schools spend at least 20 hours behind the wheel in the training yard and another 20 hours on the road.

Franklin Truck Driving Schools also offer three-week, 160-hour training, in facilities at Sikeston and Paducah, complete with training in the classroom and on the road.

Shawnee Community College, which has offered truck driving in its curriculum for more than a decade, is continually upgrading its program at the campus near Ullin, Ill.

The latest Shawnee upgrade is an Eaton Driving Trainer Simulator (EDT), which provides student drivers with proficiency training in "shifting" gears.

The $40,000 EDT simulator uses the same technology used to train pilots and ship captains.

"Students learn correct shift patterns, clutching, how to control engine RPMs and other essential skills that drivers need to safely operate an over-the-road truck," said Jack Roberts, Shawnee Community College truck driving training coordinator. "The simulator eliminates safety risks to trainees, instructors and other road users during this initial phase of training."

When operating the simulator, a student driver is able to hear a realistic replica of engine and transmission, which indicate the speed and power of the engine as well as transmission noises such a raking gears.

"The driver is even able to feel the actual shifting pattern," said Robinson. The simulator can be set for any one of 240 truck engines, including the largest truck engine. Also available are settings for 140 different transmissions, 30 different axles and 370 tire sizes, all important elements in handling a truck.

"We can simulate going up or down hills and can change trailer weights from 30,000 up to 200,000 pounds.," he added.

The new simulator offers more safety in initial training, eliminates the disadvantages in using a truck, thus saving on equipment.

The student will have all the shifting abilities before getting in the driver's seat.

The simulators include a complete instrument panel, like a truck.

"Other students can stand around and observe," said Roberts. "One of the big advantages is a color-graph panel which shows RPMs, speed and how fast a driver should drive in each gear, before shifting."

Roberts of Pulaski, Ill., and a 20-year veteran of the Air Force, is familiar with the trucking industry.

He has driven every type of land-vehicle available, driving a truck for a Southern Illinois construction company before joining the Air Force.

"I was licensed for every type of land-vehicle in the Air Force," he said.

The college's program is a member of the Association of Publicly Funded Truck Drivers Schools. The school ranks among the top 4 to 5 percent of truck-driving schools in the nation.

"It meets all the standards for national certification," said Roberts, who has been at the school since 1993. The 10-week course includes more than 40 hours of actual truck driving around the campus and some over-the-road driving.

The Shawnee Community College Truck Driving School teaches students how to drive, how to do paperwork connected with the industry and the history of trucking, said Roberts. The course also includes management and health and safety courses.

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

Women in increasing numbers are attending truck driving schools.

No one knows just who manufactured the first truck, but by the 1890s, trucks were being made in the United States. In 1904, the trucking industry had only 700 trucks. But by 1918 the number of trucks had increased to more than 600,000.

Today, millions of truckers haul about 75 percent of the nation's industrial products, using more than 55 billion gallons of fuel a year.