COVID-19 has presented many businesses and industries with unprecedented challenges as they work to adjust and adapt to the "new normal". However, with these challenges comes creativity and ingenuity to solve the problems or at least work around them. That's exactly the thinking Bishop State's truck driving instructors have resorted to at this time.
In order to stay in line with the local, state, and federal guidelines to help flatten the curve, truck driving instructors were forced off the roads. Since there is no real way to virtually learn how to drive a 40-ton tractor-trailer, all truck driving classes were halted. That's the problem, but lead truck driving instructor Brad Wallace was bound and determined to find a solution and he just may have come up with something.
Wallace, with the assistance of instructor Thomas Praytor seen in the photos below, came up with a rough draft or prototype for a way to separate the driver from the passenger or, in our case, the student from the instructor. To describe it, it is a clear shower curtain that is hung from the top of the rig and falls all the way down to the floorboards. The curtain is clear so the student and instructor can see each other while providing a little more protection from one another.
"We’re still working on it but here’s an idea of what it looks like," Wallace says in reference to the photos below. "It looks better in real life. The pictures are misleading."
The idea will be submitted along with the college's reopening plan for further review and approval. Time will tell if these instructors' creativity will get the green light and help them and their students get back on the road.
There is always a demand for truck drivers and there is especially a need for them right now. This profession is considered essential as truck drivers help deliver food and supplies all across the country. Bishop State has one of the largest truck driving programs in the state. At Bishop State, students can earn their commercial driver's license (CDL) and start earning money within eight weeks.
To learn more about the truck driving program, please contact Brad Wallace at bwallace@bishop.edu.
