Questions for trainers.

Yes you are correct there TooGroovy...but you missed my point completely. Now when you have driven totally as far as I went backwards in 32 years of driving a truck , we'll try and have a conversation on what it takes to be a PROFESSIONAL driver.... not some "cowboy" sitting in front of a computer screen. To the Op I'm am not referring to you as a 'cowboy"..but to this "PINOCCHIO NOSED" gentlemen/lady who makes comments on something that he/she knows absolutely nothing about! I was trying to make the point that while the OP wants to help his fellow drivers out by making sure they have the skills that it takes to be efficient in the everyday things that have to be done IE , inspections and all the necessary paperwork, those pale in comparison to the responsibility of teaching a rookie how to negotiate turn tight turns in big cities , drive in bad weather , and all the other things that a driver needs to know. With less than a years time behind the wheel HE himself is just now starting to get a grip on those things , and is in no way shape or form ready to train someone. Like I said IF you knew anything at all about the the trucking industry TooGRoovy you would know this. My rant is over now.....

 

TooGroovyy: Lets say your training me, In the winter time, We have light snow, and lots of wind, were doing 42Mph, the interstate has that snow blowing across the interstate pretty fast. We are driving a Day Cab SINGLE AXLE , Trailer 48ft, with 3000K on it. All of the sudden the wind catches the tractor, and We are starting to JackKnife. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? All other drivers please hold off and dont answer, I want to know what my trainer would do. Thanks Drivers.

 

wait wait I got one, dang forgot bold italics sec.... hope this is better ok its my turn MR. Trainer !!!! , you are in the pass seat and you are riding down the road and your trainee is driving ALL OF THE SUDDEN a ROMULAN BIRD OF PREY UNCLOAKS BLOCKING THE INTERSTATE , WHAT NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO HUH HUH , ANSWER MY STUPID SCENARIO .


what a joke.

 

I agree on the 10 years exp. 5 would be the least I would really want. I got very lucky, my trainer had barely a year when he trained me (although he came from a trucking family) and I would recommend him as a trainer to anyone. So from my perspective looking back now, as a trainer at driving school, and as someone who trained on the road, who was trained by a guy with 1 year exp - you certainly can get decent training out there from first year drivers.... **However** ... most of these guys with 1 year are really just learning themselves.

I would not have been comfortable at 1 year exp teaching someone else how to do this job well. At 5 years I started to train some folks with some driving exp at companies and that was sketchy at best. I never felt qualified. Now I am coming into 12 years, 1.2 million miles accident free, and I teach at a CDL school full time. I only now am realizing what it really takes to train these guys properly. I have been told I am a good teacher but I am just learning to be good at it. Anyone that says I am good just really means lucky that I haven't screwed up yet.

Give yourself some time to become the best driver you can be, know everything you can about the industry and the people in it. Get a feel for the trends out there. Offer advice to new drivers that do not know about the shower thing, or give them a hand while the back in a hole late at night and tired as heck. Be a helpful professional for a while first. Those guys were my saviors out on the road the first few years, and even today I can't forget them. Go be that guy for a while first, then try your hand at training. I think you will feel much better about the whole thing if you do it that way.

Best of luck.

 

I-90W, Janesville, WI, At the Exit Rt.14. 2 Lanes, West, Read again, 3K LBS, NOT 30K. Now since you got involved Rookie, Im in the passenger seat , You, the Rookie Trainer, is driving. Your tractor starts to jackknife, NOW, What do you do. Dont give the runaround BS, and answer the question, What do you do? Dont worry about your birds in the road, or what kind of ditches are around.

 

Probably Slow down as quik as possible, maybe use the shoulder to avoid them, Pull over, drag your rookie arse out of the truck, and leave you there. Ill leave this post as is, so I dont get in trouble here, which I usally do.

 

Mr. Trainer, Never going to happen, because I do not have the patience to Train Pee-Wee`s. They always think they know it all.

What a joke, Yes they are.

 

The answer to the question: I was on the I90 interstate in Janesville, Wisconsin, approximately 20 years ago, lost traction, the wind caught my tractor, and started to force me into a jackknife. Prior to this, just before I left the terminal, I tested the hand valve to see how much pull on the valve it would take for the rear tandems to catch. On the interstate when I was almost into a jackknife disaster, I let off the gas, very lightly pulled the hand valve, then gave the gas peddle just enough gas to pull the tractor forward and at the same time pull the trailer back. I had no time to really even think, every thing happen very fast. After that, Roadway was behind me, and gets on the radio, and said, "Holy crap driver, If you didn`t pull out of that, you were taking me with you. I then lowered my speed to 35 mph. In my opinion, I was going to fast for road conditions with the whole set up of my equipment.
9 times out of 10 once your in a jackknife situation, almost impossible to pull out of it. I was just lucky, because if the rear tandems locked up, it would be all over with. I probably could never do it again, just luck.