Our worst nightmare trainer/trainee scenario

Depends what you're working with.

Some folks wouldn't get it, if they were given 5 years of training.......

 

"Why do these companies let this happen? "


Because there's no law that says they can't, so they pull this crap and get by with it all the time.

 

How did us veterans make it without ever having a trainer?

I think I would have been worse off having some rookie act like he knows enough to tell me what to do than just learning on my own.

 

Watkins & Shepard has the right idea; hire CDL school grads then 10 days and you're on your own. Looks like if you need a baby sitter for weeks or months, you won't be able to cut it with W&S. Driving a truck doesn't require the knowledge and skills as flying a space ship to the moon.

 

Why did you stick around and put your mouth where it don't belong?

 

HUH? He was a witness to an incident, so what's wrong with him helping the law process out by giving a simple statement of facts? I've done the same thing a several occasions. I don't understand why you'd even say he shouldn't have helped out the police SMH.....

 

Back to the OP- I went through "Troops 2 Truckers" a program given on my Marine Corps Base (Camp Pendleton) and taught by mostly military vets. A couple of lifetime truckers too, but what made them all the same is that they gave a darn. We had to complete at LEAST 225 hours of combined classroom / yard skills / and road time. I left there with about 240hrs, and had the confidence to take my general, LCV, doubles, air brake, and hazmat all at the same time, and passed them all. I'm not tooting my own horn, but I am saying a lot has to do with the school, and yeah, some people just are not meant to be behind the wheel of anything bigger than a Mini Cooper- we had one kid in the class that I refused to go out with!

With the training they gave me, I went out and bought my own old cab over, a car trailer, and make money on my own, accident free. Big companies can kiss my hairy butt, that that .30 cpm and shove it!

 

If all new drivers had this outlook, we would have less problems on the road.

 

I was very lucky with my trainer. He could teach and train. Has been a driver for over 16 years, head of the safety program for 4 and been a trainer for over 400,000 miles. When I run into a situation I am not sure about I can call him for advice. In my book that is what defines a trainer. He is still my trainer even though I am solo now. His training and advice have made me a better driver.