Western Truck School was founded in 1977 by Everett G. Nord and his goal was to establish a school that would offer a course to train truck drivers. It began with a truck and an instructor in West Sacramento, CA. Today it has over 100 tractors and campuses all over California. Its emphasis is safety, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Rules and Regulations when using heavy duty tractors and defensive techniques necessary in developing skills required to pass the Commercial Driver?s License (CDL) test.
WTS offers a variety of courses to get different licenses required for its students. For example, it gives special training for the class A license (tractor, trailer operator). This is a 4 to 8 week program that combines training in the field and classroom for a total of 160 hours; it also includes DOT safety rules and regulations, state regulations and skills required to obtain the CDL, the classes are offered during the day, evening and weekends. For the class B license, the training program is designed to prepare graduates to become professional entry-level commercial truck drivers; the course takes 40 hours and is also divided in two parts: classroom and field training are done with driving tests in training areas that include highways, city and heavy traffic areas with a focus on defensive driving. And finally the class P license that is for people interested in becoming a bus driver; this is a 60 hour course divided in classroom and driving skills tests too.
At the moment, WTS has five facilities available in these locations: Bakersfield, Turlock, West Sacramento, Union City and San Diego, California. The tractors used to provide the training are conventional and all of them comply with the Local, State and Federal regulations.