According to the trucking industry, there’s a national shortage of drivers. Now, a push is on to get high school students behind the wheel.
It’s career day at Tamarac High School in Brunswick.
Inside a bright green and black trailer in the school parking lot, Steve Bobarakis of the Trucking Association of New York is showing student Mike Plante how to pilot a truck driving simulator.
“So, go right through this intersection, stop and then go straight through the intersection. And then you see the yellow arrow sign up there?”
Plante, who is graduating this spring, sits in a full-size driver seat – complete with a seat belt – surrounded by mounted video screens. He turns a wheel to drive the virtual truck down a simulated city street.
“I was definitely nervous at first, and but once I figured out the weight and pressure the steering wheel, I was able to time it up pretty good, especially on the wide turns,” said Plante.
Plante wants to go to college to study mechanical engineering and play lacrosse, but he’s curious about trucking too.
“Trucks are awesome. I see all sorts of videos and movies that have truck driving. And who knows, maybe I'll start a trucking business,” said Plant.
“And you'll see that green light goes on. So, you can turn the key again and it'll start right up…”
Emmaline Martin, an 11th grade student at Tamarac, also gets a crash course.
“Oh my gosh.”
“Keep cutting it, keep cutting it and cut back. Very good.”
“Oh my gosh, I didn't hit the curb!”
“No, you did a great job.”
“This is better than when I got my permit!”
Martin drives through a defensive driving scenario. 3D vehicles pass through a virtual intersection before Martin takes a turn.
“It's insane. It's definitely way harder than driving a car, you really got to put the work into turning it,” said Martin.
Like Plante, Martin also plans to go to college. As for getting a CDL, that’s a TBD.
“Right now, I have my mind set on being a special education teacher. But I also was looking into the trades for something during the summertime and time off in case education is not what I want to do once I get there,” said Martin.
It’s the first time the Trucking Association of New York has brought this simulator to a high school.
Kendra Hems, the association’s president, says the push to get young people into trucking comes as the nation faces a shortage of drivers.
“It's important because we are losing drivers to retirement. We had a lot of drivers leave the industry during COVID. And right now, nationwide, we're facing a shortage of about 65,000 drivers,” said Hems.
The outreach to high schoolers also comes after a change in New York state law allowing drivers to get their commercial license at 18.
“Prior to that, you had to be 21. So, this has now given us the opportunity to come to high schools and say, ‘You can do this now. You know, you no longer have to wait until you're 21 years of age. You can start the process you can go to driving school you can get your CDL and you have a career,’” said Hems.
