Swift Drivers

I have been driving over the road for a few years now and I have witnessed specific driving habits that are practiced among certain companies.

CRST drivers seem to climb right up on your tail and hang there for awhile before getting into the passing lane.

CR England drivers seem to be a little klutzy in maneuvering and feel it’s unnecessary to use their 4 ways while doing so.

But the worst of them all is Swift. Since I have been driving over the road, I have seen several swift drivers at one time gather in a truck stop (about 5 trucks) and try backing each other into parking spots. Now usually you would think that this is great that these guys are helping each other out however, after watching them for a short period, I realized that even with the help that they were getting from each other, they were still having trouble even with straight backing.

On another occasion while climbing up a steep grade, I had a Swift driver come off the shoulder and pull right out in front of me… no blinkers, flashers or did she even bother to look first.

While making a delivery at a warehouse, several drivers were waiting - and waiting… etc., for a Swift driver to back into a door. Finally he got out and asked if another driver could possibly back it in for him. Just then an Averitt driver got into the Swift truck and backed it in without any trouble.

Just yesterday while traveling down I75 in Florida, I was approaching a weigh station and was about a half mile away when a Swift (Owner Operator) blew by me, pulled in front of me and hit his breaks almost running me off the road before entering the weigh station.

Just curious of what’s going on with some of these companies in their training practices.

 

thats why swift means
Sure
Wish
I
Finished
Training

 

so many of their drivers are newbies also. They also have 20,000 drivers so naturally you'll witness more Swift drivers doing crazy stuff more than others. A lot of the training these days is horrendous, and it's not just swift. There are a lot of trainers out there who lack sufficient experience themselves. And the companies are in a hurry to get more drivers signed on that they streamline their mentor requirements . So a relatively inexperienced driver is all of a sudden a trainer !! Makes no sense.

 

There used to be a company call DTI (Direct Transit), out of Sioux City, IA., that I thought had some of the worst drivers. Hard to describe some of the things I've seen them do. They were bought out a number of years ago, maybe by Swift?

 

didn't swift buy dick simon trucking also?

 

Swift's driver training might be suspect, but what about the drivers themselves?

I am currently in school, with pre-hires from Swift and Werner. I will choose between them, possibly both, because they are the only options I chose from the several my school offers (for various reasons).


However, the quality of driver is more about the individual than the school.

The school only seeks to get the driver that magical CDL. They teach you how to pass the written tests (heck, we have the actual questions and answers from the DMV test to memorize), and how to pass what is required for the practical tests. They do nothing more than is required.

The rest is up to the individual.


We have one guy in my group that can't seem to do anything right.
When up-shifting, he pops the clutch every time to send the truck jerking. When backing he has no idea of which way the trailer will go when he turns the wheel right or left. Another guy in another group couldn't even do a u-turn without having half his truck on the sidewalk, and he had already been in the driving portion of the training for over two weeks!
But they will end up getting a Class A in the end, not because they understand how things work but, because they were taught by rote how to do a certain move.

I have had on-the-road training for 5 days now. Yesterday my instructor told me I could pass the DMV driving test right now, even though I had made a few mistakes (one of which would have failed me).
He simply said, "That was just simple #####, and I would have it when I tested.

I find that unacceptable.

Granted, I am the best driver in this current class. But, I do make mistakes. Like, when going through a slightly curving intersection my back wheels went a little over the center island because I didn't go wide enough.

He should have been all over me for that!



I'm not sure what my main point is in this reply, because there are so many angles to how a driver actually gets on the road.



I do know this...

I am obtaining my CDL because I love to drive.
I can even say that driving is a dedicated hobby of mine.

And no matter which company I drive for I think I will do well by them, because any company knows which drivers they really want to keep in very short order.

If you are good, they will do anything to keep you.
If you are a real pain in their backside, well...



Like I have said, I love driving. But even more than that, I want to be the best driver I can be - no matter what I am driving.

I am still a bit nervous with the size of these rigs, especially when down-shifting when I feel I don't have enough room to both brake and blip the throttle at the same time to meet the DMV requirement of a downshift before every stop - especially when those are the downshifts I miss the most. I tend to push in the clutch too much, thus the clutch brake, thus not being able to get into any gear.

I guess if I do everything else right, several missed downshifts won't make me fail the test. Just as pulling up a couple times to get the alley-dock just right won't fail me in the skills test.


Then, it is just up to the mentor of whichever company I choose to go with to train me how to actually become a professional truck driver - vs. simply a noob with a Class A.

 

Yes

Then the son of dick Simon started central

 

It cuts both ways ... I had an independent do the same thing to me, appearently wanted to get into the scale ahead of the the Swift driver. Except I had a bypass and was at speed not going into the scale.

Or the guy who pulled in next to me. Shut down for 6 hours and then rolled out leaving a 12 pack of Busch empties under my trailer.

 

Seems like you got it all figured out. swift or werner will be happy to make your dreams come true. good luck.

 

There are good Swift drivers, there are bad Swift drivers.
There are good CRST drivers. There are bad CRST drivers.
There are good O/O's, there are bad O/O's.

There are good White people. There are bad White people.
There are good Black people. There are bad Black people.
There are good police officers. There are bad police officers.
There are good doctors. There are bad doctors.

Judge a driver based on their actions, not the company name on their truck.