The following information was submitted by CVTA member Michael Darling of Western Truck School 

Fuel management lesson available to drivers for free

Instructional Technologies Inc. announced today, April 11, that it is joining the trucking industry’s efforts to save on fuel costs by offering to all professional drivers in the United States and Canada its Pro-Tread “Fuel Management” lesson for free, from June 1 through June 21.

ITI’s client fleets already have paid for more than 13,000 drivers to complete this half-hour lesson, which the company says soon will be updated for the latest equipment and with new fuel-saving techniques and ideas. Current ITI clients have been offered this lesson for free as of April 9 and will be allowed to take the updated lesson again at no cost during June.

“We speak with drivers and with fleet owners constantly, and all we’ve heard in the past few months is ‘fuel, fuel, fuel,’ " says Jim Voorhees, chief executive officer of Vancouver, Wash.-based ITI. "We can’t lower the cost of diesel, unfortunately, but we can help drivers burn less of it. With our ‘Initiative Save-Green,’ we’re delighted to be able to give something back to the drivers and to the fleets that not only have helped make ITI such a success, but who also keep America’s arteries flowing with everything we all need and want."

To take advantage of this offer, drivers simply have to go to www.protread.com and follow the sign-in instructions. They’ll be taking the lesson within a minute of arriving at the website, and completion takes about half an hour, according to ITI.

"We hope that every driver on the road will find time between June 1st and June 21st to stop for half an hour, get on the Internet and take this lesson," Voorhees says. "Together, we can greatly reduce our industry’s fuel costs.”