How many make it through the 1st year

We started school on a Saturday and did paperwork and lecture for the first two days. Monday they put us on simulators and Tuesday we spent the whole day in the truck.

75% of the people that left during school left on Tuesday afternoon or Wednsday morning. The number one reason was that they got in the truck and couldn't handle it. We have people leaving in tears because they were scared by the feeling of a vehicle that large.

I will say some of it was also due to the road trainers. Mine took us out in the farm county and had us driving around deserted roads the first day. Some others took thier students into downtown Green Bay on narrow city streets for the first time in the truck. I think it was a stupid choice.

My road instructor was very laid back and never raised his voice. Others had instructors that screamed constantly or were just jerks. By the end of the two weeks my road instructor was sitting in the passenger seat reading a magazine. He would tell me to "go site-seeing" but to "look out for restricted routes." He never made you feel nervous or preasured.

To give you an idea of the jerks, one student kept getting failing reviews on his driving. Before letting him go the head instructor decided to take him out for a drive. 3 hours later he came back and was driving like a pro. The previous instructor kept yelling at him for messing up but never told him how to do it right.

It all comes down to the trainers and instructors as to how the experience goes.

 

C.R. England put me out with a lesbian woman who kept playing Madonna over and over again. It lasted two days. We made it from Salt Lake to Kansas City where she began throwing all of my belongings out of the truck on the fuel island where we were stopped. The reason: I stepped on her bunk with my shoe.

This is no joke. This really happened. I had to tell CRE that I was going to get the video feeds from the truck stop to show what had happened so I wouldn't get a bad DAC report for abandoning the load or something. I guess that worked because they got me a room for the night and got me on a plane the next day for Oakland where I met my next trainer. He was an old Marine hauling doubles for Oak Harbor on a contractual basis through CRE. I didn't have any problems with him and got experience with doubles at the same time.

I shouldn't have gone out with that woman to begin with but I had already waited a week for a trainer. It felt strange living in the truck with this strange woman, even for just two days. I'm not biased in any way, but it didn't seem right them sending me out with a woman to get trained. I know women drivers have to go out and get trained with men drivers, and even that seems a bit precarious living in such a small space. I for one wouldn't do it if I was a trainer in order to avoid the liability of a he said-she said situation.

I stayed at CRE for about 8 months incident free and went on for another year at USX incident free.

 

Wow I keep hearing all these nightmare stories about trainers, I never had a trainer so I never had to deal with those things, I have been driving on the road for almost 9 years, before that I drove 5 years as a yard jockey.

I read somewhere that a lot of the newer drivers don't stay long in the trucking industry once they get a taste of life on the road. I have known plenty of new drivers who gave it up simply because they didn't like life on the road.

 

I'm on my 9 month,having a great time,oddly enough,my first jobs have been local or in-state.On my second job now and first as a fuel tank driver
(suicide driver?) hehe,easy job but....safety first.
Just finished my 90 days with the current company and already have 3 MUCH better offers,will know in a few days.

 

This is the best summary of trucking I've come across so far.

 

I've read alot of threads on this site, some of the "newbie's" will not make it - they are only thinking of themselves. If you have a family, which my husband has, and your thinking of driving, make sure you and HER/HIM sit down together and discuss EVERYTHING! It was a hard adjustment for my husband and I - but we worked together, 4 years later, still going strong and he Loves it!!

 

Reminds of my very first hour of drivers' ed in Berlin, Germany. I'd never been behind the wheel of a car, had no clue how to work a stickshift, but that didn't stop my instructor from sending me straight into midday rush-hour traffic.
Talk about one hell of an hour!

 

I never went to a driving school or training. The first time I ever drove a truck was on my road test. Which was interesting but hey.. I passed. 3 years, 2 different carriers and one incident later here I am. Oh and the incident was not my fault. I was sitting still waiting to make a left and was hit by a drunk driver running about 80 or so. Plenty of close calls in Chicago, Nashville, and Memphis because it always seems I end up there right in the middle of rush hour.

 

An interesting thread about how long someone lasts. I would also think you have to ask how long people were planning on staying. For instance, I read a reply by a teacher who took up trucking to pay bills. He wanted to pay off his house and some other large bill he had, but that was it. Had the feeling that as soon as he was done paying, he was going back to teaching. So, it would be an interesting poll, at least to me, to see how long people planned to stay in trucking when they started.

The Sheltie

Dr. Stephen Franklin: I realize that I always defined myself in terms of what I wasn't. I wasn't a good soldier like my father. I wasn't the job. I wasn't a good prospect for marriage or kids. Always what I wasn't, never what I was. And when you do that, you miss the moments. And the moments are all we've got. When I thought I was going to die, even after everything that's happened, I realized I didn't want to let go. I was willing to do it all over again, and this time I could appreciate the moments. I can't go back, but I can appreciate what I have right now. And I can define myself by what I am instead of what I'm not.
Cpt John Sheridan: And what are you?
Dr. Stehpen Franklin: Alive. Everything else is negotiable