MORGANTOWN — You just enjoyed a bag of chips.
While sitting on your new couch.
In front of your high-tech TV.
All three of the above consumer items likely have something else in common, besides being creature comforts for you.
It’s likely the trio was delivered by a long-haul truck driver: The men (and women) who muscle the big, 18-wheelers down the highway, keeping the commerce going from here to there.
If you’ve ever watched a late-night infomercial for a driving school and thought about what it would be like to actually get behind the wheel for a paycheck, you’ll have a chance to find out this fall, at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center (MTEC).
MTEC is working in partnership with SouthPointe Energy, of Canonsburg, Pa., for the program.
Students can earn a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) while receiving actual driving instruction on the tech center campus and Morgantown area roads.
An open house will be from 5-7 p.m. July 19 at MTEC, said Michael Johnston, a former courier driver and middle school teacher who now coordinates adult education classes there.
In the driver’s seat
The Canonsburg school will provide the trucks and the instructors to the Morgantown school, he said.
Classes in Morgantown will begin Sept. 10.
“It’s just another learning opportunity at MTEC,” he said.
Potential enrollees must have valid driver’s licenses, he said.
A complete range of background checks is also part of the application. For more information, call 304-291-9240, or 304-291-9243.
The school on Mississippi Street already has a diverse curriculum, Johnston said, from welding to the culinary arts.
“Now, we’ll have 18-wheeled classrooms,” he said.
And a cohort of CDL-holders and gear-jammers ready to go right after the interview.
“The industry needs jobs,” he said. “Companies are looking for drivers all the time.”
Over the road and over the hill?
That’s because the fleet is aging. The average, over-the-road trucker in the U.S. is 55, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These days, when a driver gets out from behind the wheel for good, there isn’t always a new one to take his place.
The transportation advocacy group, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) says the industry is going to need 1 million new drivers over the next years to replace the ones who are retiring now.
This, in a country, the ATA says, where more than 70 percent of the things you use — your chips, your couch, your TV — arrive by truck.
Life in the earning lane
While the job is often difficult and dangerous, the ATA reports that entry level incomes can steer up to $50,000 a year, depending on who’s hiring.
Johnston said the number of trucks for the MTEC class will depend on the number of students who enroll.
A driving course is being set up behind the MTEC and South Middle School campus, he said.
Aspiring drivers will take their test in Morgantown through the state Division of Motor Vehicles.
It will include the interstates and the area’s up-and-down roads, Johnston said.
Bob Pritts, who will give the driving test here, said the big rigs aren’t as intimidating to novice operators as one might think.
That’s even with their 53-foot trailers, 13 forward gears and Hula Hoop steering wheels, he said.
“By the time I get them, they’ve already been checked out,” he said. “They’re ready to start driving. These schools do a good job.”
Follow The Dominion Post on Twitter@DominionPostWV. Email Jim Bissett: jbissett@dominionpost.com.
