Trans Am Trainer Journal

LUGNUT HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DRIVING FOR? (YOU FILL IN HERE)
AND YOUR A TRAINER?

 

Drifting to the left line when passing??? And this is a problem for who?

Please tell me you ARE NOT from PN !

Left lane...left line.....right lane...right line.....zipper lines are no mans land.

By staying to the far line, you maximize space between passing vehicles, thereby reducing contact in the event of a blown steer tire, or sudden wind gust when carrying a light load. All this is provided the guy you are passing doesn't adhere to the belief he OWNS the road up to and including the zipper. In which case the shoulder might actually serve a function.

The only time thats good for the zipper, extremely narrow construction. In the case of I-30 in Little Rock, when it was under construction...use BOTH lanes going through the offset turns.

 

I have to say that I would not want a trainer that only has a year or less experiance,... no offense meant at all. I just think that there is more to driving a truck than just driving. I would hope to get someone who can tell me how to drive along with how to survive life on the road. A more experianced driver paired with a rookie may help retain that driver longer.

A driver with 5 - 10 - 20 years can without a doubt give a rookie tips on how to make it in this business along with driving. It just makes more sense to me and for a company not to realize this tells me that that company is simply throwing a body in a truck to move product so the company makes money and they dont really care if the driver stays or not. Its the mentality of "drivers are a dime a dozen". But good drivers (safe) are hard to find.

I start school on Monday and yes, I am getting nervous. I have wanted to drive since I was a kid to be honest but my first 20 or so years took a differant career path. No I am on the verge of realizing a childhood dream. I have read soooo many posts about a variety of topics, some good and some bad that could scare some off. So I would think that a smooth transition into trucking would be aided by providing a trainer with years of experiance.

Wow,...... was I rambling? I'll shut up now.

 

I have been in the Army for 17 years and I am an Instructor for my specialty in a unit that is the only one in the world that does our specific job. I deploy with the same guys I just finished training, and will be deploying in Sep 2007 again as a matter of fact, but I digress.

When we have guys coming through our school, I can tell before they graduate if I will be recommending them to come back as instructors. Some people just grasp the concept and can convey this on to others easier than others. With 6 months of experiance, we make instructors who will be training individuals who will be in combat less than 4 weeks after graduating our school.

I have have guys with several years of experience who could not instruct to save their ###! I personally believe that making good people into instructors earlier in their careers helps to keep complacent "professionals" from passing on bad habits to new guys.

I also believe that instructors learn just as much from their students as the students do from their instructors. I tell this to every person I upgrade to instructor and all of them have come back to me in a month or two to validate this remark. Young instructors often make better, more professional operators down the line.

BTW, I am not currently a driver (I am in the Army) and this is only my observations about making "green" individuals into instructors.

LB

 

I agree 100% with that last remark as I have fired instructors who were sleeping on the job (figuratively and literally).

I also know (knew) operator whom I considered professionals and had the upmost respect for who made one mistake and came home in a box. Along with that, I know guys who can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag and have survived several rotations to Iraq/ Afghanistan. Teflon coated soldiers we call them. All I can do is try to send my guys out with a full clue bag and hope for the best.

Anyway, I was giving my point of view since I am not a driver, but I see a lot of parallels in our lines of work.

LB

 

The problem is that the Army trains one way, (okay that's what they like to say), and its their way or no way.

OTR trainers all have a different way of doing things, that creates most problems.

 

That depends on how you look at it. All of our guys have to meet the minimum standards to be qualified but our instructors all have different techniques and specialties. We try to get each student equal time with each instructor so they get well rounded instruction. This would be the equivilent of a driver student driving with a different trainer every 4-7 days or so. Each trainer is going to have an area where they can pass on the most experience or can explain or demonstrate something better than his peers.

LB

 

This all sounds great in theory but, that's the problem-It can only work in theory and not practicality. Anyone care to guess why? OK, I'll tell you.

All you have to do is look around on this board and see the HUGE problem that the mega-companies have with turnover. Since the previously mentioned companies are also the "training companies" in most cases, how many seasoned veterans do you think are still working for these companies? Most dogs only allow you to kick them so many times before they either bite back or run away. No different for truck drivers.

The point is, if the companies had standards any stiffer for trainers, they would have trainees waiting for YEARS to get on a trainer truck rather than the weeks that they often wait now.

I am in no way defending these companies, I am only stating the obvious. Truth be known, I agree that a trainer should be an experienced driver(minimum 3-5 years 48 state all season experience).