Way back there when you were a newbie....were newbies better drivers?

I started in this business in 1972 after the printing industry went on strike and I was out of work. I started with ONC in Portland. I received one day's instruction on how to drive, the trainer took me down to the DMV where I took a driver's test that lasted all of 20 minutes. It required no skills other than driving around the block, shifting gears, entering and exiting a freeway and a straight line back.
I then headed out the next day with another driver heading for Salt Lake pulling double 28' trailers.
I drove for ONC for nearly two years, all as teams before moving over to PIE.
No I don't think drivers then were better trained. I think we were worse.
However, I agree there was a work ethic involved that I rarely see these days with anyone under the age of 27. We knew what 'on time' meant. We didn't make excuses and took our lumps when we screwed up. Maybe it was because we all had served a hitch in the military and for people like me, it meant we had spent at least a year as a tour director over in the jungles. That really changes your perspective.
The schools today are there to get you a license. Nothing more. They don't train you to drive, they train you to pass the CDL test. After that, it's up to a company to train you.
It's my opinion that trainers should have AT LEAST one year of driving under their belt, have a good attitude and a good safety record.
Much of what you learn out here is borne thru experience and that just takes time. Equip new drivers with the basics, set up a rudimentary skills test they must pass (such as ally docking, how to inspect a truck properly and the dynamics of driving) then set them out with a trainer for three weeks to learn the real world.
Give them the older vehicles so they don't bang up a new one, set them out for a few weeks, then bring them in for a little more training. Keep this up for a year before calling them a 'journeyman'. Then let the pay increase according to the type of work performed, experience levels and their ability to perform. Just like so many other jobs.
If drivers are paid a reasonable wage and earn increases due to time of service, you will attract some better grade of applicants.
Another thing is the recruiters. They paint this wonderful picture of how great life is on the road, how you're going to make a zillion dollars and be home almost at will. How about a 'truth in recruiting' standard so we don't have so many people coming in that are set up to fail because it isn't the way they 'thought' it would be. I learned from my Marine Corp recruiter what a sack of lies smelled like. Most of these people coming in have never had the experience of dealing with a recruiter before and believe what they're told.
It would be a great idea to allow 'ride alongs' so people can get an idea of whats expected.
If we did these things, we'd have a better grade of entrant, a better trained new driver and much higher retention rate.
So for the wanna be, the newbe and anyone else considering this industry, talk with people in the business and find the truth. Then make an informed decision.

 

New training rules may come down in companionship with the EOBR rule.That's according to ATA.

OOIDA has been pushing for a few years to get some set guidlines that actually involve training

Can you imagine how much those companies that use training as a cheap team are gonna scream

 

No I don't, but not because I think they're somehow less than we. The problem today (and it's not just with our newbies) is the way they've been raised and taught. We've allowed our so-called schools to be over-run with teachers and professors who've never done an actual back-breaking job in their life. We've allowed this group of drones to teach our kids that sweat is disgusting and that they are owed immediately the best of everything. What few good teachers we do have are hamstrung by the "mommies" out there who want their "precious angels" raised "properly". Daddies have abdicated their position and rights to Mommy and now Daddy wants to become Mommy. No wonder kids are screwed up.

Y'know what truly amazes me? That, even given all that, we're still getting the odd rough diamond. Kids that are beginning to understand how badly they've been screwed over; that are willing to put a shoulder to the wheel to get the job done. Minorities too..... all dreaming the same dream we had years ago. To be able to stand up and say "I'm a Trucker and #### proud of it and I don't owe you weasels S--T!!".

 

Some of the younger generation have some work ethic. Most of them were raised in blue collar family's, and learned they had to work for what they want.
They are not expecting to just float thru college then have a good paying job handed to them. They know they have to work to get it.
I just wish that these kids were not the minority.
Many good jobs, good paying jobs, are having a hard time finding new blood to join the ranks.
If it looks too much like work the kids have no interest in the job.
Then at 22 or 23 (or older) when mommy and daddy kick them out of the house finally they come crawling to fill some of those jobs.
Many people put off retirement the last few years. They will retire some time in the next few years though. Someone has to be there and trained to take there place.
This is in trucking, mechanics, machinists, manufacturing, etc.
All the blue collar sectors.
The baby boomer's cannot and will not work forever. Someone has to be ready to step up.
I hope this younger generation can do it.

 

Try prime, you might get that year.

 

I seen kids in my class that had no clue what a shifter was and they were taking an expedited class. one of the problems are the mills they tell these kids they are truck drivers and really all they did was learn how to pass the test, heck we evendrove the test route. there were 4 of us and I was the only one to pass. the tester laughed and said you drove before didn't you? even hey worry about it, but its the way it is. If you think a month in school learning to pass a test makes you a truck driver then I'm with stump go to vail and start down. YOU WILL GET TO THE BOTTOM! but it may be a messand you will definitely need new undies.

 

You won't necessarily get to the bottom

There be tree's on the way down

 

now right up front this is not a rant against new drivers but all that are new to this business should be aware that a truck driving school is a bit like a bank, they talk sweet to get your money but in reality you get little in return but a much lighter wallet.

now when i started driving my first ride i think was a one stack mack with a window in the back, no power steering, no ac, no heater to speak of, short wheel base, fixed fith wheel it was commonly called a dragon fly truck you drag it up the hill then if you had the nerve you flew down the hill. and my trailer now it was pretty big , 38 ft bunker and blower most today have no idea what that is but it was real and we hauled produce from fl to cal with no problems well that may be stretching it a bit there were a few problems well maybe more then a few but we made it .

today you guys have it lucky , you have pretty good equipment for the most part the only thing you havent learned is that things are not like a truck driving school tells you BIG DIFFERENCE when you graduate school you do not no how to drive a truck all you no is how to get your cdl that is not driving a truck much more to it then that if you think your a pro when you get that cdl and you no it all, start down a mountain like vail colorado, or donner pass in cal you wont make it half way down before you realise you dont no as much as the school told you and i promise you it will be an adventure that a lot dont survive.

my point is you have to realise that these schools are out for your money and they care about little else and there quick to take advantage of any body new comming into the business why because they no you have money and ther out to get it a lot like big brother we are required to have a cdl because big brother wants more money it by no means enabels you to drive a truck yo got a long way to go yet.

now does that mean you cant learn to drive a truck? absoloutly not sure you can just not the way that #### school tught you.

you have to learn to listen to those that have been out here before you , be observent to your surrounding and watch what the older drivers do it will be a learning process for a long time to come, dont be afraid to ask questions thats how you learn and when you find yourself rolling down a two lane road grossing 80.000 lbs you will be glad you did, its nothing to go in a streight line down the interstate its when you get off the interstate you start to learn.

and please dont get the attitude that because you drive a big truck you are now big and bad 80000 lbs can change all that in a heart beat the only problem is it affects more then just you.

remember everyone needs help on occasion dont be afraid to ask i've been out here a long time and i still on occasion have to ask aint nothing wrong with that its when you dont ask you ge into troubel. smokey and the bandit was ust a movie.

best of luck to each and everyone of you use a little common sense and you will do fine , let the adventure begin. southernpride

 

I am not sure. I think companies would keep a new driver on with a trainer running double longer than they do now. I ran double for a year with two different men before I was turned loose on my own. But that was thirty six years ago. This morning I watched a S---t driver trying to back on a dock for over thirty minutes. It was painful to watch. The dock was on the side of a building all by itself, plenty of room on both sides and in front. He finally got it right, but he had forgot to open his doors. He pulled off, opened the doors, then proceeded to take another ten minutes to hit it right. There is no way his "trainer" did a good job...unless he is backing just like his trainer did.

 

Heh, well for what it's worth, I seem to have a lot more problem hitting clear docks with plenty of room to work with than I do hitting tight docks with trucks parked on either side.

And of course, every once in awhile, we're all entitled to a bad day. Whether the guy you saw was an unsafe driver, or whether he was just having a spectacular brain fart in a relatively safe situation, is unclear.

That's beside the point, though. I mainly responded to say that you're absolutely right: I drove on a trainer's truck for almost three months, and I can count on one hand how many opportunities I got to practice backing. I can't blame my trainers too terribly much; the company I worked for treated trainer trucks basically as team trucks from day one, and so it was usually better to let me do the easier shifts (usually at night on the interstate; for a long while about the only route I drove was along I-76/I-80 through PA/OH/IN at night, which is, I later found out, about as easy as it gets). Most of the backing maneuvers either occurred while I was asleep, or were too involved for the trainer to want to risk having me try them (and thus lose time).

So that's just one example of how you could have a training process that looks good on paper, but isn't all that great in practice.

The CDL schools (many of them, anyway) seem to want to teach you only how to pass the test, which doesn't necessarily require you know how to back. In the case of PA, where I took the CDL exam, you have to parallel park the truck with a 40-foot trailer hooked -- which may not sound easy, but you can learn how to do it by rote (turn the wheel this far here; turn it again there) without having any idea how to back in the real world.

And the starter companies just want warm bodies so they can get whatever government incentives for providing employment training. The quality of the training they provide is secondary, to the company at large, and often to the trainer, too, because the trainer isn't actually paid any more for training his students well. He's paid for mileage, which is indirectly related to student ability (in the sense that having an unsafe student driver might discourage running hard), but otherwise doesn't correlate with teaching.

I think that's part of the reason a lot of new drivers get discouraged. Not only do recruiters and CDL schools tend to lie to students -- exaggerating the pay for, and de-emphasizing the discomforts involved with OTR trucking -- but students also have to make a significant investment in time and money at the outset (not just for school, but during what can be months of on-the-job training, which typically pays almost nothing) just to get to the point where they find themselves disappointed with the pay, and disillusioned with the lifestyle of a solo driver. It's discouragement compounded by discouragement.

Personally I like the lifestyle. Whether I could put up with it for decades, as some of you guys have, I don't know, but I like the sense of independence, whether real or not, that you can feel living out on the road. And I love to drive.

In principle, though, the pay is generally pretty weak for the service you're providing, and the treatment we often receive from our employers (the officials of which probably wouldn't last a week doing what we do, and certainly wouldn't put up with the pay), and the public at large, can be pretty hard to take.

Love the work; hate the job. Sorry for the ramble.