Benefits of driving schools?

The school itself was fine.It was just getting financed for the school.Wish i would have done my homework a little better and went to Arbuckle truck driving school in Ardmore.Could of had a grant and not have to pay $9500 for a CDL.Nobody ever said i was the sharpest tool in the shed.lol.the school itself was great.

 

I think good school does give a good foundation to learn on. You learn the basics of driving, but you will need more time and experience behind the wheel. At a good school you should the basics of reading an atlas and planning out your route, but again, you will need to be out on the road and get some practical experience for it to really make sense. Also, in school you will learn the basics of logging and all, but once again, being out on the road under real conditions is needed to full understand.
I am glad that I had been through school and gained a basic undestanding of things so that when I went out on the road with a trainer I could build on that and really learn. It is kind of like a puzzle in a way, at school you get to see and learn a bit about each puzzle piece, but out the road you learn out the pieces fit togther and then eventually, after some experience you begin to see the whole picture.

The thing is, trucking is not like any other job, even though it is made up of job functions, it is a life style, and what schools don't and can't teach you, and what is necessary to succeed is the characteristics, skills and tools needed to handle the emotional and mental aspect of trucking and being out on the road.

For example, I just got finished with running with a real jerk, and ran into alot of frustrations, and was out west, where more often than not I did not have phone and internet reception. It got real stressful at times, but fortunately, I have life skills and things I was able to draw upon to get through it. Now it is behind me. However, I have seen others in similar stressful situations and lacking the skills to get through, so they end up making poor choices and hurting their careers.

In this industry you have to understand the basic function of your job responsibility, pick up the load on time and transport it safely to deliver it on time. That is simple enough, but you will also have to handle whaever comes up along the way, bad weather, mechanical problems, traffic jams, situations at home, and all sorts of things. Too many drivers think that those things allow them to sherk their responsibility or are an excuse to abandon a load, be late, or whatever and that just isn't the case.

The thing is, you just really don't know who is likely to make it and be able to handle it and who isn't until they are out here. I am sure there are those companies that look at me as a woman, and being small that think I can't handle it and think the bigger man has a better chance.
The other day we were picing up a load of hay in Wyoming, it was cold, snowing and windy. The load still needs to be tarped. So, that's what I was doing. There was another truck that had also just been loaded and the guy was tarping, well, he got frustrated, then got pissed, and just gave up. he just pulled his tarp off, that he was struggng with, left it on the ground and took off... I was cold, but, hey, there was a nice tarp there laying on the ground. So, when finished tarping, and he hadn't returned, I rolled it up and put it on my truck.
Well, when we got to the place to unload, there he was, again very upset, why? because they were not accepting his load because it wasn't tarped. While he argued with them, I untarped and unstrapped my load, got unloaded. Then, I took pity on him, so I decided to tell him I have his tarp and give it back to him, well, when I approached his truck he was getting a butt chewing from his boss and was in deep hot water. I told him I had his tarp and the forklift guy was brining it over to him. He thanked me, and we chatted for a bit and he told me he may be out of a job.
To me, yeah, it sucks when it is below 0, snowing and windy and you have to tarp a load of hay that has been sitting outside getting rained and snowed on. But hey, they say it has to be tarped, I tarp it. I would rather spend my time making money tarping in bad weather than looking for work in good weather.

My point being, most flatbed companies would assume that this guy would be able to handle tarping in cold bad weather and look at me and think I couldn't. You can't tell who can and can't hadle it out here and school can't teach you that. However, I do believe if you want to succeed, than you will, you will learn and develope what you need to make it.

 

Not to be snide...but when they say "behind the wheel"...does this include the time one is perched or sitting in the sleeper area behind the driver, or actually "at the wheel".

This issue came up here on the forum way back...don't remember the thread, but we all know "at the wheel" is real experience time, and behind the wheel can mean watching, or just occupying space and BS'ing with other students when one should be paying attention to the one "at the wheel", and learning something from what he/she is doing while "at the wheel".

 

Supposed to mean at the wheel driving.

 

we are "behind the wheel."

 

Even if all 180 is at the wheel driving it is only a first step. I got my CDL a few months ago and have been out with trainers. To me,training is exteamly important, so I actually took a path that gave me more training than what most get.
I am very glad about that too. I have my basics down, am good at shifting and backing and all that. But, there is still new things that pop up. For example last week, crossing Donners pass, it was snowing and they had the chain control going, traffic backed up, nerves rattled, and under a load running late. All of that is pretty normal basic stuff when your out on the road, what made it tough, the truck I was in, the heater wasn't working right, wouldn't defrost mirrors and barely defrost my windshield, the windshield washer didn't work, the seat controls were busted so I couldn't lock my seat, the seat belts don't work, and, it popped out of gear all the time. That was one crazy trip, however, I certainly did learn a lot. The guy I was running with was lazy and doesn't take care of his truck. Having had to drive around in it for weeks, I learned that I would rather take the time to take care of my ride that deal with all that little crap.
I have been over Donners pass a few times now, and neither time was the same.
I know I now have many, many, many hours at he wheel, and am still learning. 180 hours at the wheel is the equivalnt to the first day of kindergarden.

I am not putting down the schools, I just think that too many newbies think that what they learn in school is enough and that they are good to go. The truth is, that just isn't so.
You need kindergarden so you can go tothe 1st grade, you need to go to school so afterwards you can learn to drive a truck.

 

Another part of the problem lies in the fact that the newbies, coming out of school have been led to believe the "instructors" at these schools are all knowing, and possess all the experience and knowledge to be passed on. And these "instructors" are many levels above the OTR drivers and trainers/Mentors the companies have, so they like to argue about what is right and wrong based on what the "instructors" taught them in school.

At Western Truck School in West Sacramento, they have 3 "instructors" with less than 6 months experience solo under their belts...hell, they haven't even had enough time to grow the "steering belly" that a truly experienced driver has proudly earned!

 

My first trainer, well, he was awesome, of course that is in hind sight, because at the time he seemed a bit rough around the edges and a bit harsh. Anyway, he had this cup, that I had to put .50 in, anytime I said something like "in school we were taught... or... my instructor told us.... dang, it took me a few bucks to stop that habit.. LOL

One day, we were waiting for a load, and he had me putting on the chains and taking them off and putting them on and off again and again...

Well, I am thankful for that now. Last weekend I was out west and kept running into chain control... the roads weren't bad either, but, they would let you thru without your chains ons... Well, no sweat, I had learned how to put them on and take them off. It felt good to be able to do it with less struggle and half the time as some other drivers... I also got a kick when I got to help out a big burly guy who had looked at me and asked if I could even carry the chains... well, I got mine on and he was struggling so little ol me went over and said, here, let me get those for ya... Dang did that feel good.. LOL he got humbled and thanked me..

There were other things he did that at the time I never realized the full value of it, at the time I just knew it cost me .50. thinks like, he wanted me to get into the habit of always checking things, so when we would fuel and I was in the truck stop, he would take a post it note and put it on something, like a tire, it would say tire low on it, the tire wasn't low, but if I missed the post it note I had to put .50 in the cup, sometimes he would put it on an air hose, or the fith whee pull. Well, I got into the habit of walking around the truck and looking... sometimes there wouldn't be a post it note and I would walk around the darn truck twice making sure I didn't miss it LOL... His point was, that if you don't check those things along the way it can cost you... so, he got me in the habit of always looking at my truck as I walked up to it and walking around it and looking and checking things out.

I had pretty good instructors at school and thy taught me what they could, I was fortunate to get a good tainer and he taught me well, but, I think the most important thing he taught me, was that there will always be more to learn and it is up to me to want to learn and to always improve.

Just so you know, he was a good guy, he often paid for my meals on the road and would get me coffee and stuff... and, when I was done and moving on, h gave me my cup of change, and told me to get into the habit of putting my change in it at the end of each day, when it was full, dump it into a bigger jar and continue to put my change it, that way, I will be saving up some money and always have some...

Well, I have done that, and when I have time during a reset or waiting for hours I sometimes put it into rolls. so far I have over a $150 saved up in my change. Having some spare money... spare change... is always good thing out here.

Now, even if you are not lucky enough to get a good rainer like that, don't think you can't learn. I just came off the road ater running with a very poor driver and poor trainer... But, I certainly learned a lot. I learned how stressful things can get when you don't pay attention to the little details or know how to plan your route... I learned that I would rather be more like my first trainer, even though it was more work, than be like this last guy who was lazy.

 

School is what all the companies want now for insurance purposes. No more old school learning even though that was probably the best way.

 

What you have said here in this post, and a few others you have posted, is that in order to be an efficient trucker, (or any profession actually), is that one should establish habits, and stick to those habits with everything you do.

When I was with the fire department, we would constantly practice, train, practice, train...on every evolution we could or would possibly encounter. By establishing a routine, you know what to do, and how to adjust when the "norm" becomes abnormal. Same way in the medic unit...patient contact begins the same with every patient...as you approach the patient you are sizing up the scene, gaining knowledge of the circumstance before the "work" has begun with the patient.

Trucking is the same...even though we do the "same thing" every day, every "thing" is constantly changing...we are sizing up the situation every second, getting ready to "adjust" to the changing circumstance. No matter if we are on a dedicated route...(same road day in and day out) or OTR and our scenery is changing daily...we are still analyzing every twist, turn, and straight shot in the highway...watching the cars get on and get off the Interstate...what color is the last car in the group, is that rig coming on the ramp getting up to speed quickly or slowly, do i need to get a different lane to help him/her onto the highway...analyzing everything we see and putting into perspective with our own motion and decisions as we travel our life's highway.

Most of us learned in school a specific routine for doing a pre-trip inspection...it is actually uncomfortable to do the pre-trip in any different order. Habits, good and bad, are established as we repeatedly do something...but beware the bad habits...they are easier to lock onto since they will usually involve some shortcuts from the good habit we established in our training. But if our training was incomplete, or lacking, we need to learn the better way and establish that as our routine.

LT...let me ask you a question now...no long thought on the answer, just answer quickly; what do you do with the cam key as you are connecting the chains?