So... Who Taught You To Drive?

I'm the youngest of 9 boys, all of which have driven and a couple still do. My Dad drove for 37 years, and my brother-in-law just retired after 35 years pulling a flatbed. As far as who actually taught me...I guess they all did. I spent time in the jump seat with all of 'em at one time or another...spent summers riding along and helping a couple others when they were bed bugging....but I've picked up pointers and habits from just about everyone out here...
One thing that my Dad really pounded into my head...you can ALWAYS learn something from any situation, even if what you learn is what NOT to do...

 

My dad and uncle. When I went for my drivers license at 16 I already knew how to drive a semi. Was taught how to go backward before I went forward, that was the rule, still can't back up for crap though...lol.

When I was 18 and getting ready to get my CDL I ran with my uncle to MI and back hauling coal and hauling heavy. You learn real quick when you're grossing 100k. You don't make mistakes! I also ran with my dad some but with what he was doing at the time it was hard for me to go with him.

That was 17 years ago and we are all still trucking. I still learn from my dad and many others.

Just typing that out brings back some fond memories!

 

Yep same here my Dad taught me as well. I was 18 and it was cool, he taught me little hints and tips he has picked up in his 30+ years of driving. Some good although some bad I guess haha. Like double clutching, I still to this day have never done it, he just taught me how to float the gears in. It was kinda sketchy though learning to back and all that as he would walk along the side of the truck as I backed, and he would get mixed up a few times tellin me, "alright crank it to the left.. WOOPS NO I MEAN TO THE RIGHT!!" Sheesh u kiddin me? But it was a good time and like I'm sure as you can attest to it brought us closer together. And ya for sure like you stated, saved me the money of going to CDL school. I was on the fence about my dad teaching me as I know how is explanatory skills are, but my uncle laid it out pretty good when he said, " Well s***, if your dad was Michael Jordan I doubt you'd sign on for a $3,000 basketball camp." Well played sir.

 

When I was 16 the people next door were O/O's for a moving company and during the summers I went with them loading and unloading peoples stuff,At first they let me move the truck ahead or back for unloading and then later it was more and more.Then the day I turned 18 I got my licence,Been doing it ever since.Boring I know!

 

I'm fourth generation. My great-grandfather began hauling grain with a team of 6 mules pulling two wagons before he bought his first truck.

One of my grandfathers retired to his farm from the military. That's where my other grandfather, who was retired by then, and my Dad began teaching me.

I started with an old International Cabover pulling a hopper on the farm when I was 15. At 16, I was allowed to drive from field to field as long as my grandfather (or Dad when he was home) was in the truck with me. I was required to work on the truck and keep it running. Grandpa really helped me understand the truck.

By the time I was 18 , I was plenty comfortable with the size of the truck, shifting, and maneuvering in tight places. Adding traffic to the equation was a lot less stressful with my familiarity with driving a tractor trailer. My Grandpa let me take his retired 359 Pete and a grain buggy to take my test in. He kept the truck a while longer to train me a little more. He and I hauled cattle in a ground load trailer for locals and did a little bit of grain hauling, too. He sold the 359 after I landed my first paying trucking job. I found out later that he had only kept the tractor after his retirement for me to test and train in. Awesome.

It was a great way for me to learn and I wouldn't have traded it for all the schools there are. There was no pressure on me to learn quickly. I was exposed to things gradually. Once I had proven that I was capable of doing one thing, we'd add something else. I am a supporter of a graduated CDL of some sort, if it could be figured out. If you have the situation, it's an awesome and fun way to learn.

Learning from my Grandpa and my Dad was really special to me. The only thing that may come close to that experience was my Grandpa going on one of my first runs with me after I bought my tractor and letting him test it out. It was really cool.

 

My husband but I also went to trucking driving school

 

My first job as a mechanic, the boss threw me the keys to the roll back and told me to get a car with it. Knew how to shift a pick up truck. I learned that one real quick. Then when I got the job I have now that required a class A cdl and bus endorsement they took me to an old abandoned air strip and told me to have at it. I spent three days down there just shifting, driving around, and backing up. Then the moved me into a truck to drive around town with another guy, and then I went and took my test and passed. Ever since then I am still learning on the job.

Drove a lot of different trucks with a lot of different transmissions. Everything from an 8 speed to 18 speed, automatics, automated, and sychronized (that one was unusal for a class 8 truck). I still look at the shifter when I get in the truck to see what the transmission is before I even move.

 

I went to a trucking school in long Island N.Y. back in 1976. the name was Commercial driver Training. they were in Farmingdale when i went. i think they are still around but might have moved.

 

My father ran a business involving trucking. Grew up around lots of old time truck drivers too. They all taught me how to drive the old rigs we had back then. Taught me lots of other things about life and I never had to go to a $$$ truck school or out with a so-called company "trainer", thankfully.

But that was a whole nuther' era, way back then. Things were way different in this business then they are now.

Wish I had gone on to become an automotive technician like I had planned, if I had known trucking was going to go to the dogs like it has in the last 20 years.