New graduate OTR training period/time?

I digress China. When I came out of Swifts training academy I teamed w/ a guy that went through training in Idaho. He managed to get us into quite a few situations that required my input. Waking up out of a dead sleep to navigate backwards down a one lane mountain pass at night in the rain was minor in the gems he pulled, but I got us outta there. BTW - I made HIM call the cops to stop traffic once I got us down. He's still w/ Swift but I immediately moved on. I still carry fond memories because we hit it off. But, ya can't fix stupid...

 

The other thing with big carriers is the training isn't so much training when your "trainer" is in the sleeper letting you make him money while he rests for his driving shift. Also got trainer at a mega might only have 3 months out on the road himself. The safety guy at this company is more than likely a veteran driver.

 

"All the inbetweens" such as how to covertly listen to coffee counter conversations between former Navy Seals and CIA Assassin's or the millionaire truck drivers that drive because they got bored sitting at home counting their money!

 

Hi Chinatown,

That was a good one.

 

Your my HERO

 

SMH... Chinatown.
Maybe those are your in-betweens, but they are far from the hundreds of serious in-betweens that are needed for any serious safe driver.
Safety does figure in with driving, somewhere, right? Just wanna make sure I'm not going astray here.

Yep, anyone can just drive and learn by their mistakes along the way. But I sure wouldn't want to send off every new driver with a 50/50 chance of screwing up, on every 'untaught/unknown' situation or maneuver. Say he gets it right even 75% of the time without any training... that's still leaves a likely 25% open to do some serious damage/mistakes, costing one a career or even far more. I guess the lady and kids on the bus stop corner will have to just be 'collateral damage' for him to finally learn just how to swing that 53'er around city right hand turns.

I can't imagine starting out without all the things I learned from a few experienced ol' hand drivers, before I even first piloted the darn truck.
Many pieces of vital info that saved my hide in one way or another, so I would go years without any incident, unlike the daily reports of seeing untrained/crappily trained drivers overturned in the ditch, or trailer crunched while making a turn, or getting overweight tickets because they don't know how or which direction to slide 5th wheel or trailer tandems, or smoking all brakes on long downgrades, plus hundreds of more etc's.

I really think the 1 run with a "safety guy" (no telling his actual driving experience) is really leaving a new guy open to more serious risk... that's entirely avoidable.
With most new drivers, one week is really nothing. I believe in training new drivers 'a bit different' than your way.
First give him all the experience-sourced "know-how" he can absorb... make sure he has ample time to know it & use it... then send him off solo into the sunset.

 

Hey, he's a man; what more can you expect? Every successful man has a woman propping him up like a crutch.

 

So do a lot of unsuccessful men.

 

You could hack it, but at what risk? Get out on the road, over your head, and you could screw up your CDL that you worked to hard to get, screw it up for many years to come!

I went to a very good CDL school. Indian Hills Community College - Ottumwa, IA. It is on everyone's "approved list" and has a great reputation. Lots of actual, in the truck, on the road training. I then started my first job, as a company driver with TransAm trucking. They only require you to be out 10 days with a trainer before they give you your own truck and send you out solo.

Being out with a trainer for only 10 days, when it came time for me to pull out of the yard with my first solo load, I did not feel ready. I seriously thought a mistake had been made. Something was wrong, a manager did not look at his/her checklist, or something, cause I was not ready. I just took it slow, worked through problems and survived but 10 days with a trainer was too short.

I don't think you need 4-6 weeks, but 3-4 weeks (if you have a good CDL school) is in order before you take on the responsibility of driving a big rig on the public roads. IMHO

Maybe a bit unfair to a company but sign on, go out on a 3-4 week training period, put the miles in while being supervised and when a problem (at least some types of problems) would not likely go on your record. Then resign and then go with the small company that you want. Maybe unfair to the training company but they don't sign us to long-term contracts and can terminate us on a whim, so what is fair for the goose ...

You would not be on full pay, so the training company would likely get some benefit of your miles at a low rate. You would not be on full pay but just think of this as a continuation of your CDL school. An investment in your education and training. You are not starting a job but a career, make the necessary investment in the start of your career to do it right! IMHO

 

well no,lol..