so should I report my past employer/trainer?

Why do people think pulling in a scale and acting dumb gets you a free pass. It does not, they will throw the book at you in training or not. When you move that commercial motor vehicle it means you done a proper prey rip and it's ready to move. Not it has defects that I reported and they won't fix. It also means you have a reasonable understanding of the HOS and agree to abide by them it's not hard to figure out

 

Training companies I know about do not let the newbies start off running team. Most have at least 2 weeks (more or less depending on the individual) of "training" before they are given an actual "team run". It takes time to build up to sitting the full 11.5 hours to max out your legal time at the wheel. Once the student is "seasoned" and has some sense of his/her limits, then the runs get longer and more time sensitive.

I disagree! The current issue of "better training" needs to address the training schools more so than the training companies. If a student were to be started at a company OTR position with a better, more complete understanding of the "little things" (customer service, paperwork[BOL's], tight quarters maneuvering, truck stop protocol...I think the OTR training could be better served. Yes we do have a big problem with "trainers" that only have a student for a second log book, but those could be addressed and removed if the beginning of a drivers career was a bit more in depth.

 

Best thing to do right now is submit applications to some good companies. You've been around long enough to know not to disparage a previous employer to a prospective new employer. Play it safe and say, "I'm looking for better pay and benefits." Submit some applications then follow with a phone call in a couple of days.

Freymiller
J&R Schugel
Jones Bros. Trucking
Pride Transport
H.O. Wolding
Magnum Ltd.
TransAm
Halvor Lines
Sue Vinje Trucking
System Transport
Waggoners Trucking Co.
Earl Henderson Trucking
Navajo Express

Just pick one from the job offers and stick with it a few months; you can pick a career company after this.

 

I am with Werner.. with werner the students are on curfew for the first two phases of their training.. so for the first two phases they are not allowed to drive between midnight and 6am..

I am also a trainer.. how I do it is.. for the first part of their training.. I drive my hours and then the student drives for about 4 to 5 hours.. then we shut down for a reset... because we dont run team until the last half of their training and I am confident and comfortable with their driving...

However, for me, I found training not to be worth it... I make good money on my own driving solo.. and having students actually slowed me down... took longer teaching them to back and all.. and the extra restroom breaks and and all...

 

I boldfaced a most telling part of your post.

When you went to driving school, that was SCHOOL. When you are HIRED by a company and start training it is called "On The JOB Training".

Are or were you intending to get into this profession and refuse to drive at night, thereby eliminating half of all available time that you could be driving? If so that borders on idiocy.

I'm assuming that you were AWARE of how the training program at W.E. works AND that you understood you would be team driving, right? I'm also assuming that you would have to have some kind of fundamental understanding that your RESPONSIBILITY as a truck DRIVER is to get loads delivered safely ON TIME.

By your statement I boldfaced above I'm reading between the lines, but it sure sounds to me like you were on the JOB and refused to do your job, putting on time delivery of the load in jeopardy. Correct me if I'm wrong about this. If I have a trainee that refuses to run at night, which this job demands, then I'll run at night if I have available hours to drive. The next step after delivering that load is to get to the nearest terminal and kick that trainee off the truck.

This isn't Polyannaville. This is truck DRIVING. You are wanting to be a Truck DRIVER. Notice that the job description isn't Truck SLEEPER or Truck PARKER. You want to drive? Then DRIVE!

 

You might really need to re-think this career choice N. easy. Not trying bash you , but your posts say you're in way over your head. Just being honest with you. That's all.

 

Your trainer was a turd, but you didn't help yourself by quitting. You should have been right back in his face. If he didn't come around after that............. drop a dime on him to safety. Cell phones can send pics to show defective lights in a instant. Don't sit there at the keyboard and make us believe that not one person in the company wouldn't have been concerned about non working trailer lights. Sorry if my post sounds harsh..........but, You gave up your man card for a easy way out.

 

While I do agree partially with you... it isnt that simple...

First... HOS... there is not a special HOS for a trainer and student.. so according to the HOS Regulations.. there are two CDL holders/Drivers in the truck.. so, the trainer can only technically be in the right seat.. logged Off Duty for two(2) hours.. after that it is a passenger rule violation.. now, a trainer can be logged On Duty Observation while in the right seat.... what gets tricky about this is it eats up the trai ers HOS, and if the student is behind the wheel and gets i to a situation where the trainer wants to or needs to take over, the trai e is out of hours..

Also, one other thing, that happens a lot with students when the trainer is in the right seat.. is the student doesn't think things through for themselves.. the automatically look to the trainer for direction or ask "What should I do?"..
So, before my student and I get to the last part of their training where we are driving team.. I like to let them make decisions. .. so, what I do.. is go in the bunk and read.. I am out of sight to the student.. yet I stay alert and awar of what is going on....

Another thing... students often do better when their trainer is in the bunk... I have been in the bunk and had students do very well.. then I get up and sit in the right seat and they hit the rumble strip and grind the gears...

While everyone likes to bash the team driving period of training... it does serve a purpose.. I have yet to have a student who when we were at the team phase not have to wake me up... once cause they took a wrong turn,then pulled i to a gas station that they thought they could turn around only to be in a tight sticky situation.. had to help them get out of it.. and it was tight tight tight... had another wake me up because a car was freaking them out.. he was brake checking them...

I bought a a wireless door bell.. so mh student can ring it and wake me up at anytime... and believe me, they do...

 

Sorry to bring this up but your not a student, you are not learning how to drive a truck, you earned your CDL so you are in control of that vehicle when you are driving it - not your "trainer", not the company, not anyone.

People think I'm wrong but here is the thing,

YOUR CDL is your right to make decisions on how to run the truck when you are in control, it is a license that you earned through testing to see if you have skills to pilot a rig safely down the road. YOUR HOS is part of that control, no one can falsify the HOS, no one can make changes to it and no one has the right to tell you not to do something that is illegal.

When someone tells you that they are going to run "your hours", then they relive you of your duty but not your duty to others on the road, so I would have been on the phone with safety asking them to see if it alright that this is done.

I would have told the idiot (I use that term loosely) to deal with it when I would need to get my 10 hours reset in, otherwise, I would be on the phone with safety asking them what to do, if it was alright that I skip my ten and then drive (seriously I would have asked them and told them the instructions I got from my "trainer").

As chicken crap as all of that sounds, you need to protect your CDL at all and any costs, which means that if you have to throw an idiot under the bus a couple times because they think that they own you, then it is justified.

I say all of this because there is some little law that states we are protected as drivers - it is part of the STAA and it can be used for crap like this

here is the link to the actual part you should know ----> http://www.whistleblowers.gov/acts/staa.html