training question??

How much time is spent driving with your trainer after orientation?

Depends on the company, 4 to 8 weeks depends how well you do catching on. Majority time you and him driving, shooting the bull and sleeping when you can. bring books if you like to read, magazines, your lap top to play games or what ever when he's driving and when your sitting. It's fun but also boring at times.
:smt119

 

Your CDL training phase called PSD last a minimum of 100 hours of drive time by the student. Once that has been reached you will go back to Sprimo for your CDL test. Once you pass your test you are credited with 10,000 miles. If your CDL trainer also trains in the next phase called TNT then you can stay with them or go through TNT with a different trainer. At this point you will accumulate a minimum of 30,000 miles of driving between you and your trainer. Once complete you will be eligible for an "A" seat upgrade.

 

My trainer had me drive at night and he slept ! we ran like a team truck. Now I have heard others do it differently

 

In your PSD phase the trainer must stay in the passenger seat while you are driving. With a permit only you are not legally allowed to drive unless directly supervised by a CDL holder. If you are in your TNT phase you will be driving as a team and therefor driving in shifts. I am also driving during the night shift while my trainer sleeps.

 

As a PSD instructor, I build up my students from day one, starting with about two hours of drive time then up to a full 11 hour shift within a week. PSD instructors are "REQUIRED BY LAW" TO BE UP, ON DUTY AND IN THE SEAT NEXT TO THEIR STUDENT. Do not confuse the term student with the term, trainee". A trainee already has a CDL. When you complete the minimun 75 hours of driving as a student AND YOUR INSTRUCTOR thinks you are prepared, you will go to SPRIMO for testing, after you pass your test you are hired by PRIME and are NOW A TRAINEE, at this point you get credited with 10k miles toward your 40k. At this point you go out with a trainer, It can be the same as your instructor, you will complete an additional 30k miles, you will drive as a team, that means , one sleeping, one driving, you swap every twelve hours or whatever shift your trainer comes up with. If anyone tells you anything else, then they are incorrect, If they are not an instructor or trainer, they may not have all the updated information

 

In the first two weeks of TnT the student should NOT be driving past midnight or during those twilight hours that people often fall asleep and wreck. (they usually say they swerved to miss an animal) Guidance by Prime Training Division.

If a PSD instructor is reported to be sleeping in the back and not in the passenger seat in an "on-duty" status, not only could he lose his instructor status, but his gig at prime. They do not mess around with this. The fine is stiff for the driver if caught by DOT, but it is 10X larger for the company, as it is with most infractions. Driver pays $2500, Company pays $25000. We do what we gotta do, but Prime does take ethics seriously.

 

Twilight driving is a guidline and you should certainly be more cautious then but i asked Stan about it and in is not forbidden. Sometimes the load requires it

 

Were you a student or did you already have a CDL, If you already had your CDL, that is normal