Training a inexperienced driver

I 2nd everything mentioned above. I would also teach patience. Reasoning: sometimes driving you get behind someone going a little too slow. You need to get over but the hammer lane is too congested. The hammer lane is designed to stay moving. I would teach a new driver to wait until you have a clear path to switch lanes. Don't ride in the granny lane with your turn signal on because someone in the hammer lane is gonna hold up that flow to let you in. That lane is to never be held up. A driver has to be patient for all the traffic to move along before passing. Patience is key in every aspect of trucking. It will help develop one's bull #### tolerance. I'd also teach them how to find the right parking spaces at the truck stop. You always find the easiest one to get into first. Do not back into a tight, dark spot unless you have no choice. By the way, there are other truck stops to park besides the major chains. There are other places to park at besides truck stops. However, the driver must be on the lookout for hideouts.

 

On the first day I was taught the 1 mph pass.

 

Thats pretty close to how I learned to drive a car, and then again when I learned to drive a truck. Not quite that dramatic.... But close.

 

I would show them how to trip plan so you know if your on time or if dispatch did not give driver enough time from the start. If shipper holds up truck 5 hours can you still make delivery on time.

I would show them all the little tricks I was told when training. Like how to make left turn without running over cars hood at stoplight or how to make right turn and do you need to split the lanes to make the turn ?

How to shift gears in manual transmission if your training in one so it's smooth and easy and new driver won't have worry about double clutching in low rang. Because you shift at 1,000 RPMs.

Their is how to drive in snow and ice. Plus driving down hill in snow vs dry roads. Turn off engine brake because seems like lots of driver don't understand the differential apply all the power from engine brake to wheels with the least amount of traction on snow and ice. Once the tire start spinning, that tire will want to lead or come to the front of your truck. Your basically starting your own jackknife, going down hill by using the engine brake. Your better of no engine brake and using all the regular brakes in snow or ice. When road is dry that's when you use engine brake to go down hill faster ! vs just using regular brakes on dry roads. You engine brake and regular brakes together and you can go downhill faster!

Their are all kind of stuff I don't see people talk about, like don't let trailer push you around corners or exit ramps. Because the trailer will always want to keep going straight off into the ditch. So you pull the trailer around corners in snow and ice. You pull the trailer when making lane change in snow and ice. When your pulling the trailer your in control. When the trailer is pushing you, the trailer is in control. You never want to trailer to be in control of your truck

 

Add to the above -- how to find safe, legal, respectable parking at the end of one's shift.

Finding a parking place at the end of the day (depending on where you are, and the time of day/night) can be a REAL challenge--especially in the northeast.

--Lual

 

If I would train someone, which is highly unlikely, I would start with what they don’t require on the cdl test, the mechanics of the truck, most of the problems I see is with people who don’t understand how things work and it can be very important to have that knowledge.

the other is time management, this is the second biggest issue in this industry, outside of then a lack of driving skills.