I failed the CDL road test at Roadmaster school

All of the DG trailers are equipped with liftgates.. the drivers are required to move rolltainers of freight onto the liftgate and then roll them all into the stores.. these can be close to 2000 pounds.. dogfood / water rolltainers.. add bad wheels and no containment nets and uneven ground or steep ramps and its a really potentially dangerous for the drivers. and YES there are a lot of injuries to drivers as well.

 

Like someone said if you take your road test in an automatic you will be restricted to only automatics but its not the end of the world a lot of companies have automatic transmission.In time you can learn how to use a manual and retake the driving test and have that restriction removed from your license.

 

Sorry, to me this is down right sad. Seems new drivers sure have a hard time with shifting a manual transmission. I blame it on the lack of exposure to manual transmissions today, in general, and worse, they don't know what's going on at the bottom of the stick. I tell ya', and I mean no disrespect to the OP, but it seems, the automatic transmission ( and power steering) sure saved the trucking industry.

 

Listen, you can do this. I know you can. Just stay calm, think a little bit ahead, remember your training, and practice every chance you get. You will do a good job next time, I know you will.Good luck, and keep us up-dated.

 

In our day, we drove before 15 yrs. old and got our drivers license at 16 yrs. old. There were a few automatic transmission cars around, but not many. Today, with public transportation readily available and resonably priced, there's not much need to rush for a drivers license. One of my high school classmates had a Chevy with automatic transmission and we were in awe riding in it and feeling it shift by itself. My uncle bought a Plymouth or maybe it was a Desoto, with automatic transmission and had the only one for miles around that had push buttons in the center of the steering wheel for shifting. Each button had a letter indicating which gear it was for.
This picture is of an Edsel steering wheel:

 

Hi Chinatown, I'm a huge classic car nut, and several car makers offered push buttons, but to my knowledge, Edsel was the only one in the center of the steering wheel. ( and it was troublesome) The main reason, I feel, why people can't handle truck transmissions, is because, years ago, many farmers turned to trucking when the farm went bust, and most tractors had non-synchronized transmissions. Today, even most of those are automatics. Quite frankly, with automatic technology today, I don't know why manuals are still out there.

 

If the OP takes the test and gets a job with an automatic, how exactly will they ever learn to drive a manual?

Furthermore, why in the world would the school send someone to test that can't downshift??

 

Because it's the only people applying for these jobs. They HAVE to.

 

Yet they want to force more ridiculous regulations upon us without addressing the very real problem of crappy training standards. No offense meant to the OP, it's not your fault, it's the feds and the megas of the industry that have caused this and continue to refuse to fix it.
I've heard the megas actually budget for wrecks, freight claims. law suits and such in their fiscal projections.

 

His looked similar to this, but was that awful coral green color. Maybe it was a special edition with the buttons in the center of steering wheel, but I distinctly remember that.