PTDI adds four schools to list offering PTDI-cerfitifed courses
PTDI helps sets the standards for training truck drivers.
The Trucker News Services
5/29/2009
ALEXANDRIA, Pa. — The Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) has announced that two U.S. driver training programs and two in Ontario, Canada, have been added to the growing list of North American truck driver training schools offering PTDI-certified courses.
Receiving initial course certification are Louisiana Technical College–Acadian Campus, Crowley, La.; All-State Career School, West Mifflin, Penn.; Ontario Truck Training Academy in Oshawa and Peterborough, Ontario.
In addition, Des Moines Area Community College/ Transportation Institute, Des Moines, Iowa; Professional Drivers Academy, Milton, Penn.; Northampton Community College Driver Training Program, Tobyhanna, Penn.; and KRTS Inc., Caledonia, Ontario, Canada, have received course recertification for five years.
“We are very excited and pleased to have earned PTDI course certification,” Pat Miers, campus administrator/assistant dean at Louisiana Technical College–Acadian Campus. “LTC Acadian Campus is the only truck driver training program in the state of Louisiana with this credential. It’s another indicator of our college’s quest for excellence. I attribute this commendable achievement to the talent, hard work, and dedication of our Commercial Vehicle Operations instructors. This certification validates our commitment to providing a quality truck driver training program.”
Paul Bulick, director at All-State Career School, which serves the Pittsburgh market and beyond, believes “this PTDI certification separates us from the other four truck driver training schools in the area and gives my graduates a solid foundation.”
Bulick said one of his goals when he came onboard three years ago was to acquire PTDI certification.
“We have over 100 students in our program right now, and we plan to add another 15 to 20 percent,” he said. “PTDI will help us do that because it gives our program credibility and our students are becoming more aware of the benefits of attending a PTDI-certified course. We tell prospective students the PTDI story when they apply, and I know this impresses them.”
Tanya Cullaton, sales and marketing coordinator at Ontario Truck Training Academy in Oshawa, agrees that PTDI standards help prepare their students.
“I go through insurance requirements with our students and explain that this training is only a stepping stone in their career,” she said. “I tell them, ‘once you obtain your license, you will go on to a carrier who will give you additional training. If a carrier puts you behind the wheel without it, run in the other direction.’”
Ontario Truck Training Academy’s operations manager/owner, Yvette Lagrois, is an advocate for truck driving standards and works to promote the industry through job fairs and as a director with the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario.
Both Lagrois and Cullaton are “very excited” about PTDI certification.
“We hand out insurance documents that promote PTDI so that prospective students see the benefits and results in black and white,” Cullaton said.
PTDI is a national, nonprofit organization established for the twofold purpose of developing uniform industry skill, curriculum, and certification standards for entry-level truck driver training and motor carrier driver finishing programs, and certifying entry-level truck driver training courses at public and private schools and driver finishing programs at carriers for compliance with PTDI standards.
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