Company driving test

You have a cdl, you should be able to drive a truck!

That said most places that do training know you still have a lot to learn and take it into account.

 

Can you maintain control of the truck and not hit anything for an hour at a time. Basically all they're looking for. The question is "are you worth hiring?" It is an idiot test.

 

In FFE my first day was a road test. The provider of that road test was a large black driver who was part of the staff there in Lancaster. A wonderful person to be around actually. Enjoyable too. But his command style is pretty intimidating to those who are weak. (Maybe someone with them can update me and others on whatever happened to him after all these years? Is he still scaring the newbies?)

Anyhow.

I completed my part of the road test well enough, merging into the I-35 southbound which was in construction and everyone in a high speed dash for waco or something. I was told to get off that freeway and park under yonder bridge properly. Done. NEXT driver up.

Anyway. One of the drivers were rather young. He rammed the trailer into the parking area at 50 mph in reverse (Not actually 50, but unnecessarily fast) trying to show boat. All he did was earn some profanity, told to get his stuff and he will be given a bus ride back home as soon the company van could get him to the bus station down town. Right there and then on the spot. Failed his first road test and not even noon on the day one of our orientation.

All he had to do was take it slow and take his time to be safe backing that thing in. But he did it to hisself with the ego and all ramming it in there. So he's gone.

That is why road tests are handed out. One purpose is to weed out people who are not ready to do the work right and refuse to perform professionally when asked to.

 

A road test is all that really should be required. Sending you out with a trainer cuts into your income. When I road tested drivers it was a loop around town, a few miles down the highway and pull in some tight spot to get me a coffee. If they did not hit anything turn them loose. All a trainer is going to be doing is keeping seat warm and massage your ears with "war stories"

 

If they are the kind of company that hires new CDL grads, they're not expecting perfection. They just want to know if you're going to stall the truck in the middle of an intersection, or wrap your trailer around a Lamppost while making a sharp right turn, or if you change lanes without looking in your mirrors, Etc. As long as you display rudimentary knowledge of how to operate the vehicle safely, you should be fine.

 

All I did was drive around the block and not hit anything. Easier than the test when you got your license. No biggie.