Roadmaster Drivers School of Orlando Grand Opening

WFTV – 4pm

– [Announcer] This is channel nine eyewitness news at four coverage you can count on.

– Well, a new state of the art truck driving school has opened in Apopka.

– Yeah. A familiar name. Road masters well, they have a new look driver’s school. It’s designed to meet the growing demand for driver’s nationwide. There you go. The American trucking association says the demand will be even higher by 2030. Road master says it’s 12 acre campus will be able to teach and certify more than a thousand students annually. It’ll focus on creating jobs for central Florida’s unemployed.

– I was nervous the whole first week. I don’t think I talked to anybody. And then they were like, why are you not talking to us? And then they just, I felt so much more comfortable. And now I’m like best friends with like half my, my class.

– The new Road masters driving school of Orlando campus is located off of west orange avenue in Apopka.

– Love that, that is fantastic.

– The whole backing that rascal up. I don’t think I’d like to do that.

– Yeah. Well.

– Well the one thing backing up, you would win.

– Get outta my way.

WFTV – 5pm

– [Narrator] This is Channel 9 “Eyewitness News” at five, coverage you can count on.

– A new state-of-the-art truck driving school has opened in Apopka.

– Roadmaster’s new driver school, designed to meet the growing demand for drivers nationwide. The American Trucking Association says that the demand will be even higher by 2030. Roadmaster’s school says it’s 12 acre campus will be able to teach and certify more than a thousand students annually. It’ll focus on creating jobs for Central Florida’s unemployed, as well.

– Truckers are extremely important. We know that during the pandemic many people lost their jobs in hospitality and other places, and trucking proved to be recession proof and pandemic proof.

– [Greg] The new Roadmaster’s Drivers School in Orlando is located off West Orange Avenue in Apopka.

WOFL-TV

– So coming up at 5:30, companies looking for people who want to start out making $60,000 a year.

– Not bad, right? And the qualifications seem pretty simple.

– This industry, isn’t looking for people with high education. It’s looking for people that just want to work hard.

– [Luanne] The new place where you can learn the skills needed for this in-demand career coming up after the break.

– Well, are you looking for a career change? Truckers can make about $60,000 a year starting out. And as Fox 35’s, Nester Mato, found out, it’s getting easier to learn how to drive.

– Now the demand for drivers is through the roof.

– [Nestor] Brad Ball of Roadmaster Driver School of Orlando opened a new facility in Apopka that hopes to ease the truck driver shortage by training Central Florida drivers. City commissioners were at a ribbon cutting this morning.

– This industry isn’t looking for people with high education. It’s looking for people that just want to work hard.

– [Nestor] Before the pandemic the industry was already short 61,000 drivers. That number grew to 80,000 last year according to the American Trucking Associations.

– I started seeing a lot of women getting into the industry and I just really felt empowered. And I was really not happy with where I was with retail.

– There’s really no pay gap tied to race or gender in trucking. So everybody gets paid by the miles.

– [Nestor] Ball says he’s seeing more diversity which is also helping expand the hiring pool.

– So you actually have to get pre-hired before you start the school or in the training. I have a job offer.

– [Nestor] Training takes four to six weeks and pay starts at $60,000 a year. In Apopka, I’m Nestor Mato, Fox 35 News.