The college purchased a TranSim 7-Series Driver Training Simulator and related software and hardware from L3Harris Driver Training Solutions, a commercial division of L3Harris Technologies, Inc.
The simulator will provide training on manual transmission for multiple types of trucks, including basic operation scenarios such as backing, turns, intersections, space management, and shifting in rural, freeway and suburban environments. It will also include post-incident safety training, safety refresher skills training, effectively assessing driver skills, prescreening new drivers, and advanced skills and career development for experienced drivers.
“The simulator replicates the actual cockpit of any tractor trailer. We can select our current vehicle configurations and students can practice. This saves us considerable instructor training hours, equipment damage, fuel and testing costs,” said Duane Hodge, director of the CTTTC.
Credit: Matt Derby
Credit: Matt Derby
With the new simulator, each student is given an opportunity to learn all the requirements to safely operate a vehicle regardless of their skill level or experience.
Hodge said the simulator will also be used to train Clark State Fire, EMS and Police Academy cadets so they can create real-world scenarios such as driving a fire truck or police car through busy traffic and high-speed chase situations.
“The possibilities are endless for its use and the training benefits of simulating these situations that are impossible to replicate in real time,” he said.
Imperial Express Inc. in Springfield is one local company that recruits a majority of its new drivers through Clark State’s program as they visit monthly to talk about transportation careers with each class and what the company and others have to offer CDL drivers.
“This technological addition to the program will provide training, functional, educational and cost-savings benefits,” said Dale Briggs, president of Imperial Express. “It can help bridge the gap between career seekers and obtaining a CDL by providing the ability to try out truck driving from the safety of the simulator.”
The simulator can help reduce fear and anxiety a driver may have before ever sitting in an actual truck and save fuel and wear on the vehicles.
Briggs said a simulator’s purpose isn’t meant to teach students to drive, but to teach those in training on how to make better choices when in an actual truck. He said it can offer thousands of various situations that can be programmed to allow trainees to experience real-world situations in a safe simulator environment.
“I see the simulator as a pathway for broadening, increasing and expanding interest and participation in the CTTTC program,” he said.
The center offers Class A and Class B programs, and a Tractor-Trailer Refresher program for both corporate employees and newcomers to obtain a CDL license and job placement assistance if needed. The center also serves as an official testing site for those who have met the requirements for the CDL exam.
The TranSim 7-Series Driver Training Simulator, funded from the Federal Perkins V Grant, is expected to be installed in January.
This fiscal year, Tanisha Burns-Martin, tech prep coordinator and Perkins Grant administrator at Clark State, said the college was awarded more than a quarter of a million dollars to put back into the Career Technical Education programs the school holds through professional development for educators, advanced training measures for students, and for the latest supplies and equipment to be trained on.
“The Perkins V grant funding has worked to develop and improve programs that reiterate why everyone who desires to, has a place here at Clark State,” she said.
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