Trainers!!! How long before one should be a trainer

I've seen old sweats with many times my experience get nto very bad situations because of very bad habits they've picked up over the years. However, BoyWonder, it takes, experience, time, and a healthy respect for driving an 80,000 pound missle to know how to drive, know how to park, and be able to get into any hole you can find. I'll stop at the weed california pilot and there's always two spaces open because those spots can wash you out if you do it wrong. I've driven in the USA and Canada. I've put my trailer exactly where I needed to put it. It may take time but I get it right. And I don't care how many people I piss off trying to back up into one of those make or break holes, because I will do it right. I've been at places to deliver or pick up, places no trucks have any business going... I've driven over a wooden bridge once because that was the only way to get to the shipper.
The Ikea in Palo Alto's a nightmare.... One time I took a 14 foot trailer in there and I swore the trailer was rubbing in places. After that if I go there I tell them to use the 13-6, I'm not taking another 14 foot into there. The docks are in an underground garage with cars all over the place.......

Course there's another Ikea with the docks under a bridge... You want me to do what?

There's customers that have the docks set in busy parking lots and if you even attempt to put your tractor straight you'll go into a deep ditch all the time being mindful that cars like to park in spots where it's impossible to get in the hole. Then there's places where the only way you can get the trailer in the door is to actually disconnect the trailer and reconnect at different angles. Then there's customers where you must jackknife at the right angle and then stretch out tandems at the precise moment to finish jacknifing it in the hole and if you miss it you have to start all over again.

This stuff comes with experience and I'm still learning, either by example, or by not doing what Joe Blow tried to do. That's what War's getting at. And on a side note, if you're in this industry and the day you think you know it all you better get out before you kill somebody.

 

3 months experience should be enough right? My buddy who went to western express had a trainer that had 3 months experience. While he was with his trainer, he said the trainer tried showing off by backing and not allowing my buddy to get out and spot for him. Trainer ended up taking off the hood of another truck at a truck stop. Also turned down a residential street, then backed into traffic and took out a street sign. He was trainer of the month

Ethan

 

It takes a lifetime to learn how to be safe. Less than a year and you are still getting the feel for the truck. Hopefully I am reading this wrong, but it looks like you are way too over confident about safety, which is something that a driver with a few decades under his belt will never be.

 

Another problem is the caliber of people that are driving today. No real work ethic. Too many say they refuse to work for a company because the company has automatic, requires teams, etc. It's a job. Get the experience you can with a company that will hire you, listen to the veterans, and move on to another company with at least a years experience under your belt. With experience, you can afford to be a little more picky about a company.
I may only have two years of experience, but that was a decade ago. No one had gps routing for trucks. We used that crazy thing called a map. Now I am looking to get back into driving, so I am going with a company that offers refresher courses. Will not complain if the company does not have an inverter, or automatic trucks. I need to get my dues in just like any other rookie.

 

I have to disagree. Safety is an attitude, the driver either has it day one, or they don't. I have always felt safer when riding with and even training new people as they still had a healthy fear of both screwing up AND respect of the equipment. I have conducted evaluations and road tests with some experienced hands who had no business on the streets yet had this weird attitude of how much control they had over everything.. I was rarely impressed by sloppy over confident "old hands". The difference (as seen exhibited here) is that some people can take valid constructive criticism and some see it as some personal affront.

 

I'll be devil's advocate. It does not take a lifetime to be safe. If you've been driving for 20 years with some very bad habits and managed to stay safe, eventually it's going to catch up to you.

On the same note, I was safe in a truck before I stepped in one to drive it for a company. I grew up around trucks.

 

Safety not only comes from having the right attitude, but also from experience. It is easy to be a safe driver under optimum conditions, or at least should be. It is a whole other ball game when dealing with conditions that are less than optimum. It takes experience to handle black ice, mountain roads with chain requirements, freezing rain, etc. No rookie can get that experience without time.

 

And I've met several people who have been driving for years who refuse to operate in any of those conditions while I have trained many who will because they know how and have had the training to be able to work in those conditions.. its not always about lots of experience.. its more about the desire to do the job safely, correctly... and THAT is missing in all areas of the country these days..

 

I'm not arguing that there are no bad veteran drivers. Far from it. I am saying that in order to the job correctly and safely, it must come from experience. it is one thing to drive in poor conditions with a trainer. The driver knows that the trainer can always take over, provided that the trainer is at least decent in their job performance. It is another thing altogether when they are out their solo with no one to rely on. You also have the problem of rookies teaching rookies. It is nice to think that all rookies will get an experienced trainer, but we all know this rarely happens. How is a rookie supposed to drive safe with poor training, regardless of the desire to be safe?

 

Well to hear some tell it, they never had trainers and they are now the mostest with the bestest,,, Training can only prepare a person to do so much.. AND I am completely sure that chances are that these people who were never trained will do a poorer job at training someone that someone who has recently gone through the training. Not only is the training fresh in their minds but they can relate to the other driver in the truck at the time. I've seen a lot more dangerous experienced hands that I have fresh drivers. That is of course my opinion.. before someone comes unglued and started threatening to drag me around by my ear..