Pocatello Public Works found a creative way to train new drivers – put them in a simulation
Published at
POCATELLO — People who train to become drivers for city services will soon do a portion of their training with a tool that Pocatello hasn’t tried before – simulations.
The Pocatello Public Works Department has acquired two simulation machines to train people and help them acquire their Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDL). This is to help them address the recruiting problem they’ve been having for CDL positions.
“We tried a bunch of different avenues and a bunch of different ways of trying to improve (recruitment),” said Tom Kirkman, the Deputy Director of Public Works. “Then we thought one day, what if we just start hiring people with not as much experience and then train them in-house to do the functions that we do?”
The city uses a driving simulator made by L3Harris Technologies; and a simulator by Caterpillar for equipment-operating simulation. It acquired the machines last month.
The Public Works department hasn’t trained anyone to get their CDL yet, and employees are still building the curriculum.
“This is very new,” Kirkman said.
When the department hires someone without a CDL, the new employee has to complete the training within six months of their hire date.
The plan is to have trainees’ preliminary driving experience done on the simulator before they graduate to a real road. Kirkman explained when a new and untrained driver steps behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle, it can “take a pretty good beating.”
“When you’re first learning how to drive a (manual) truck … it’s not like driving a manual transmission in a car,” Kirkman said. “it’s a lot easier on the trucks to not have that wear and tear occur.”
The simulators provide feedback to trainees and show their instructor whether they’ve passed or failed an exercise.
“There’s a lot that you need to learn to become a proficient operator,” Kirkman said.
He said people have to get used to using the equipment because precision is required when performing tasks, whether that’s digging with a backhoe or maneuvering around a parked car in heavy snow.
“You could be digging for a water line and you could have a gas line a foot away on one side and a fiber optic line on the other side,” Kirkman said. “It takes a concerted amount of concentration to be able to navigate in that tight space.”
Kirkman pointed out that driving a snow plow or a garbage truck is more difficult than driving a regular vehicle. Some heavy equipment doesn’t even have a rearview mirror on the windshield.
“If a car’s following you really close, you don’t even see it’s there,” Kirkman said. “So there’s a lot of planning ahead that needs to be done when you’re changing lanes.”
Kirkman acknowledged that if someone trained on only the simulations, they wouldn’t be prepared for operating the equipment in the real world.
“Simulations are good for training, but the final part of the training has to be hands-on because there’s there’s too much at stake,” Kirkman said.