Swift training school any one out here been there.

This is true, in WA you can not use the Jake Brake either. I just thought it strange that the other instructors would not let them use it at all, especially if they were to come down the Lewiston hill........

 

What is a GOALs?

 

I can answer bill's question (if it hadn't already), the 'skills test' at Lewiston are 4 things, 100' straight back, a pull forward stopping with your bumper inside a 2' deep box, a right hand turn (around a cone we call GrandMa) and an alley dock, stopping the rear of the trailer within a 2ft deep box.

The road test was about 20-30 min long. The instructor i had was very laid back. We were given a sheet going over commentary to use during the test. I asked my instructor just how much 'commentary' he wanted, and he just said "whatever feels comfortable". Works for me, so i used very little. =) One thing, you curb any of the tires, and you fail automaticly. We had one driver who didn't make it out past the bridge over clearwater river. There is a somewhat tight right hand turn, and some yahoo in a 4-wheeler cut him off making their left hand turn, and he curbed the trailer. Also in the road test, i was asked to do 2 or 3 emergency stops. I was just barely comfortable to take the test, though i would have liked to have had a couple more days with 2-3 hrs behind the wheel.

We never practiced the surpentine (spell check) or blind-side alley docks or even bothered with paralell parking. i got real world experience on that. =) if you can learn to control the trailer, and get your fat butt out of the seat and GOAL, you should never have a problem backing.

 

Get Out And Look

 

When I took my State Road Test in Syracuse Ny the lady was making her grocery list......lol, but everytime i turned or did something her eyes went right to the mirror to make sure i did hit any curbs or anything...only got 5 points off for grinding gears

 

In Massachusetts the State Troopers give you the test. Talk about being made nervous. They don't tell you how many points yopu got they just say pass or fail. They keep track of the points. If you curb a tire you fail.

 

OOOHRAH!

Well as you can see from my heading, I was able to pass my WA State CDL test today. As a matter of fact, Dave, Kurt and I all passed the test. The other 2 WA students did not pass in Spokane. One of them failed on Skills and Road, and the other just failed on Skills. Our single ID student failed on the Pre-trip, so he didn't even go on to road or skills. Both of the MT students passed, and the OR students also passed.

Below is a link to the GPS Tracker for the test route.
http://gpsed.com/track/7306594500798806977

So on the Pre-trip, I missed 4 points, Dave missed 1 point and Kurt missed 6 points. On the skills test, I missed 1 point (for a pull up), Dave missed 6 points and Kurt missed 4. Finally for the driving test, I missed 23 points, Dave missed 20 points, and Kurt squeaked by with 24 points.

I took a few turns wider than necessary, buut I didn't hit any curbs or any unavoidable lines. I did grind a couple of gears, mostly due to nerves! One stop sign I didn't stop at the sign, but I got at the line. I was the first of Swift's students to ever catch the "street sign", but then I was out of gear longer than I should have been when I went into the highway on ramp. I recovered quick enough, once I flipped the selector lever. By the way, the sign was an overhead yellow sign that said "Freeway Ends 1/4 mile". Bob said to take a guess of you have no clue, so Dave guessed merge ahead.

I missed 12 points for miriors alone! She also gave me a point for being out of my lane while merging onto the freeway. I was a little bit over the fog line.

Anyways, in the end the only thing that matters is that we have our CDL! Dave and I are staying the night in Lewiston and will head home for 10 days before orientation begins on July 28th in Sumner WA.

Looking back on my time at Swift Training Academy, I am very impressed with the instruction that I have recieved. I must say that I was very lucky to have Bob as my instructor. I could have done fine with another teacher, but I believe that I have a little bit more knowledge than some of the other students thanks to Bob.

I will continue to blog on this forum through my Orientation and mentorship, so stay tuned!


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BRAVOOOOO Congrates on Passing the test !!!! Enjoy the 10days at home before ya head off to orientation.. then ya can start a new thread of time with the mentor LOL

 

Congrats Ford

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we are headed out for a beer tonight!

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