went for a road test today.

... "And why is it every driver that I take on a road test feels like they have to spin the RPM's up to 1800 before every shift?"

I bet he drives a stick in his 4-wheeler... I had the same problem starting out until I got used to the truck, but even then it only took me a couple of days to get used to it.

 

In this case he got the education that he paid for, not much.

 

Au contraire, by the time he gets home he will have 5 offers from Megas more than willing to "train" him while they run him team.

 

I work with other drivers who have been doing the same thing for their companies for years. I ran into one the other day with a truck just like the one I was driving. We had time to kill and he was asking me how I liked the truck and the company and I told him what the truck was like, the specs and so on. I asked him what engine was in his and he looked at me with a very serious face and said " ... I don't know ... I never even checked the oil on it and don't really care... all I know its yellow".

I know this happens a lot, run into drivers when I was on the road who didn't even know how to check the oil let alone know what engine was in the truck so I wasn't really surprised at his comments.

 

Agree, a company driver should know how to do a proper pre/post trip and check fluid levels. Why should a company driver be expected to ####-chat about specifications and what the name plate on an engine has on it?

 

CDL schools generally train students to pass the state test and get their CDL. Experience teaches the rest, and weeds out those without common sense.

 

He may never learn to shift with the mega n00b carriers going to all autos now days. We will have a whole new breed of drivers that will be lost as to how to safely and efficiently operate a lot of the trucks they may have to drive in the future. Of course they could just always retire at swift.

 

Wow, I'm a girl, well woman and I can tell you what kind of engine, transmission and the rear end size on my company truck. My ever changing company truck. No disrespect to you men out there, but I just LOVE when I get treated like the dumb blonde I apparently am by shop people, mechanics and often other drivers. I have sold both auto parts and big truck parts. Worked as a service writer for a repair shop. And it flabbergasts me when I meet people that have no clue. You should always learn the tools of your trade. So in our case, learn your truck.

 

In CDL school right now, the truck i drive is a 2009 Freightliner Columbia retired from #### Lavy Trucking in 2012, has a DD15 and a Eaton Fuller 10 speed, we are required to do a pretrip daily before we even start the truck, and then we hook up to a trailer, and then pretrip the trailer. We havent even left the #### yard yet. Thats not for another 2 weeks.