CarriersEdge announced that one of its online training courses for keeping truck drivers safe is now available in Spanish.
The Defensive Driving training suite includes one full two-hour course covering the traffic, road and weather challenges that truck drivers face every day, as well as seven refresher modules on specific topics.
The original course and the new Spanish-language versions were developed by CarriersEdge, providers of online safety and compliance training tools for the North American transportation industry. As with other courses in the CarriersEdge library, the Defensive Driving training modules use animation, video demonstrations, real-world scenarios and interactivity to reinforce the concepts presented, and quizzes and tests to give drivers immediate feedback on how well they understand the material.
“With the trucking industry’s increasing diversity, it’s important that all drivers have access to the latest in best practices for safe operations, and to have that training in a language they’re most comfortable communicating in,” said Jane Jazrawy, co-founder and chief executive of CarriersEdge.
The National Hispanic Transportation Alliance notes that more than three million of the 7.5 million CDL truck drivers in the United States are of Hispanic heritage, and there are more than 250,000 Hispanic-owned trucking companies operating in the U.S.
Offering training in multiple languages is not only of benefit to drivers, “It’s a very effective way to attract new drivers into the industry,” Jazrawy added. Fleets often use the full course as part of new-driver orientation programs, with the specific-topic modules a part of continuing education and refresher training.
“When you combine Spanish-language training with diverse recruiting and operations staff who can speak more than one language, you have a solid support system for new drivers,” she said. “Having those supports relieves a lot of anxiety on the part of both the drivers and office staff.”
The Defensive Driving course covers the basics as well as handling situations such as turns and curves, backing up, intersections and lane changes. According to the company, it also helps drivers understand the relationship between speed and space among vehicles on the road.
CarriersEdge offers training in hours-of-service rules, including a full course and four modules, in Spanish, and noted it is working on a Spanish-language version of its vehicle-inspection training. The Spanish-language courses are included in a CarriersEdge subscription, or can be purchased individually through CarriersEdge partners.
The company has also developed courses in French and Punjabi. All English-language course instructional tools are included in those courses to provide a consistent education experience across the fleet, according to CarriersEdge.
