Do they teach this in school?

I90 in ny is numbered east to west, and exits don't follow mileposts. That's what he was taking about. I hate driving in NY for that reason. Trip planning is so much faster when you can say I'll make it to mile xxx, so I need a place to shut down a little before that.

I was gonna mention that the landing strip thing was a myth, at least in the US, but someone beat me to it. There are motorways in other countries that do have emergency landing strips designated with no over passes, power lines, and have extra room on the sides. They have to beef up the pave as well. A c130 is pretty #### heavy.

I have to say this isn't stuff they should have to teach at cdl school, even though it is. This is stuff you should've learned when you first started driving cars. It's sad how clueless most of the populace is.

 

CA didn't have mm/exit numbers until Fed $$$ were threatened to be cut off...about 2004 or 2005, and still not complete. PA had their exits numbered from West to East/ South to North not by mile distance from border but by the system "this is the first exit (1), the next one will be 2 even if it is 30 miles from the border"...again Fed $$$ dictated the change....NY was the same as PA, been so long since I was back there, I don't know if they changed or not.

Don't forget the "3 Digit System"...First digit (265) "even" route through or around a city, and first digit "odd" (195), spur into a city. Three digit system does not correspond with the directional travel [west/east, south/north] of the base route. i.e., I-880 travels south/north from Oakland to San Jose, and I-205 from Banta to Tracy yet I-580 connects to I-205 at Tracy and connects to I-5 at Vernalis.

 

I never noticed that, I don't get to New York much, I'll add that to the reasons why .

The Autobahn was designed to have portions act as an air strip and it was still used that way when I was stationed in Germany in the early 1980's. It is not clear from the post that brought it up if they were talking account the Autobahn or the Interstate system.

 

Florida was the same way until the late 90's.

 

Short answer - no.
Just spent a week in class going over regs and rules by power points and dvd's.
The school has us do paper logs from the first day of class thru all driving.
I do know how to read maps, love to plot m/c routes on MSFT Streets & Trips.
I'm guessing the other 2 guys in the class never learned how to fold a gas station map and have never heard of Truckers Atlas. We havnt driven yet, but at least they seem pretty smart, are willing to listen (football and badketball excepted) and dont have an attitude.
Goodwill sponsored North Texas Institute cdl training. So far I like it.
I do know we'll drive lots thru DFW and area traffic.
Mary

 

Is that what those little green signs say, "mile marker number" I was going to slow down and read one but hadn't got around to it yet, great so it's, "back to hammer down".

 

I can't remember where I saw or read it, but I remember the autobahn in Germany and airplanes landing on it in the same story.

The other thing I remember from the story was about the BMW and volkswagon companies. VW was "the people's car" and the government encouraged citizens to put money away every week to buy one. As most of us know, BMW stands for "Bavarian Motor Works". The little blue and white symbol on the hood of the cars (and tanks of motorcycles) pays tribute to their beginnings. BMW started making airplane engines for the military. That little blue and white symbol is actually a propeller spinning.

I don't remember where I saw all of this stuff, and all of my family is Irish and Welsh, so it didn't come from "the old country". I must have been watching the history channel at some point and it stuck.

 

As has allready been stated the emergency landing strip thing is a myth. The actual requirement is for a turn every ? mile. The requirement is to keep drivers awake and aware.

 

Myth for the US, fact for the Autobahn and other highways in Europe during the cold war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_strip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx7Meo7w-pY

 

You must've never drove I80 through wyoming, I could've tied off the steering wheel, set the cruise, and taken a nap it was so straight for so long.

And yes NY MM and exit system on the intertstates is still borked, I thins MA is the same way too.

Another fun trick with the atlases for new drivers. Spend the extra $20 and get the laminated one. Not only is it more durable, but you can use a dry erase marker to trace your route then wipe it off when you're done. Not really necessary but it helped me get a good idea of where I was driving.