ATTN: NEW DRIVERS!!!!!!

I know Kc0rey kind of on a personal level and actually from a automotive forum and when I mentioned I was going to a truck driving school he pm;d me his cell and offered me to call anytime I ever needed to and the times I did were LOG discusions that took a while and he took every moment to explain my rookie questions that were not addressed in school. I will mention that I had asked some of the questions on this and another forum and from this forum I printed the responses and read them till I had it.
Also Kc0rey lives in the state I took my my job (IL) and he drove to the terminal to invite me for dinner with his Family and Himself. That was the first time I had ever met him and really the only time, we really only got along slightly for awhile on the other forum as I am the moderator and he and I did clash at first. I have nothing but respect for him and take his word as gospel in the trucking industry, and if by chance he is wrong on something, well that is OK because everyone makes mistakes and he still gave a lot to help me make my move and be successfull. I am no seasoned pro by any means but I did accomplish what I wanted to in this proffesion. JMO

 

I got no problem with you personally i just didnt like get off my highway thing its my highway also

I am sorry i had a bad day yesterday and seems the posts is geared toward advice for the newbie..musta had cobwebs in my brain last nite...apologies

I myself do feel as though there is a brotherhood in truckers i always am willing to help a fellow trucker in any way i possibly can and always will.
truth of it is you guys are my second family and I really hope we can all treat each other in a brotherly manner. I agree that i am quick to jump to conclusions about posts and i am highly opinionated but I think a lot of every trucker out there and have the utmost respect for each and every one of you. You guys are all my friends whether you like me or not.
hopefully you guys can pull me down off the cross now

oh yea i liked that booboobone that was funny!! I didnt try to insult your name by dropping the k. I was just shortening it like i do all names in my posts. Thats ok if you feel the need to insult mine that doesnt bother me .

I am certainly not surprised by the fact that turbo got in this, there is another bone hater ...there i go shortening them names again what was i thinking....

 

From what you have said I have gratitude for the simple reason that you feel confortable here.

For all that read this you can be safe in the knowledge that you can feel free to voice an opinion here and not have the concern of retribution.

 

OK guys, let me add a little to this discussion since I'm the newbie that was asking for some help on my axle weight distribution....

Short bio on me, I'm 65 and a new driver. I've had my CDL-A since October and drove for USA TRUCK, hauling general freight/dry vans Nov., Dec. and part of Jan. I no longer drive for them and I'll explain some of the reasons in this post as I think it is pertinent to this discussion.

First let me say that this forum has been a HUGE resource for me as a new driver. Turbo, Portland, Kcorey, Mad Dog & Bush Bunny have all communicated with me via PM & Email to help me with questions.

I would like to give a recap of my OTR training with USA TRUCK. It consisted of four weeks and I drove a total of 17,000 miles. My trainer was on a dedicated route between Vandalia, OH & Brownsville, TX. I met the trainer in Vandalia, he drove for the first hour or so and then we swapped, he sat in the jump seat for about an hour and a half as we drove south on 75. He observed my skill level from the truck stop and saw me go through the gears from 3 - 10 and then maintain the 55 MPH speed limit. He then climbed in the sleeper as I navigated through Cincinnati
etc., I woke him up at the end of my 11 hours and we swapped.

The ONLY stops we made were fuel stops. So I had to buy food, take a rest room break and do anything else of a personal nature during these stops....we would get to Brownsville and he woudl back to the dock, he only allowed to back to the dock one time in four weeks.

I asked for help on some shifting issues and about truck stop parking, etc and was always told 'oh you'll get it don't worry about it'. That went on for four weeks/17K miles. So strickly team driving 10/11/10/11 for both of us and the truck never stopped....I had serious fatigue problems as I couldn't sleep while madman was driving....are you getting the picture????

This was an angry man, who always tailgated and displayed road rage on a continuous basis....even flipped off some lady and her young daughter as the husband drove and seemed to be in his way as we went through Dallas. This was a scary man and I tried getting off his truck via the training dept. and was told to stick it out, which is what I decided to do, I suspect I should have just bailed off the truck but I didn't.

When I 'graduated' from training and was put on solo, I told my fleet manager that I really didn't feel qualified to be driving solo as a general freight driver as NONE of my training was geared to it. No trip planning, no atlas work, no backing, no truck stop, etc etc......I was again told, oh don't worry about it, you'll pick it up.....

I ended up having two truck stop accidents, both in the 11th hour of driving while trying to get off the road as I was exhausted...both minor, one a mirror on another truck and the other was a fender bender...again I told safety I didn't feel I was properly trained....no action on there part, I volunteered for additional training, etc.....they had me come through the home office terminal, sent me to the safety department and I was terminated due to the accidents. I feel this was not justified and I'm not sure how or if I'm going to challenge it....I did question them during the the termination as to how they could do this in view of the fact that I said from the beginning I didn't feel I was properly trained and reinforced that feeling after the first incident...this was all done via qualcomm, of course now that I'm no longer there the fact that it was documented on the qcomm doesn't matter.

So, I'm back home and local for some kind of driving gig, I would really like to do some more OTR and I know I have identified my problems and have the corrected in my mind and I'm sure I will have no more issues on the road.

I have driven for 50 years and these are my only two accidents, so I consider myself to be a safe driver. I also do car racing as a hobby so I feel my driving skills are better than average.

So my bottom line is this, these forums and particulary this one have been a great asset and resource for myself and other new drivers and the majority of the forum members are more than willing to help. I'm not shy and not ashamed to be new at something, in this case driving, on several occasions at shippers and consignees docks I asked for some help from other drivers and in every case they were very willing to help and that included male and one female driver, so my hats off to them.

I also did a deal at a rest stop in KY that I felt good about. I was on the Interstate doing 63MPH (our governed speed) when an elderly lady passed me and then immediately pulled in front of me and slowed down so she could make the rest area exit....we've all seen this happen....I followed her off, since I had to brake fairly hard to avoid her.....I walked over to there car (she was driving, the husband in the passenger seat) and in a very courteous voice asked if I could talk to her for a minute about trucks....they were both a little reserved but got out of the car and I introduced myself, first and last name and the name of my company. I said I have a load of paper on the truck and my GVW is 74,880 pounds or about 37 tons against her car of about 4,000 pounds or 2 tons. I told them that if something were to have happened, such as a deer run in front of her just as she cut in front of me and she had jumped on the brakes and I jumped on the brakes at my speed I would have hit them and drug them down the road maybe a 100 yards or so......anyway they were grateful that I took the time to tell them and said they would mention it to there friends....needless to say I felt pretty good and feel like I handled it in a professional way and helped bridge a gap between 4 and 18 wheelers.

Enough babble......thanks for listening



I was involved 8)

 

That does sound like some shoddy training sounds like he just had you in there for the extra miles. I can somewhat relate, my trainer had me for three weeks and would never let me back in at a truck stop, he would always take over or make me park at a rest area and so when i got out on my on i had 2 minor truck stop incidents. I have often mentioned to my safety dept that after the training is done the trained driver should have to complete an obstacle course to prove his abilitys and they have finally put it in effect starting in march.

 

If you feel you are not properly trained and don't know how to perform the duties that keep you safe as well as legal then please stay off my highways.

Sorry kcorey I dont think you own the highways bro.