Newbie fears

I had the same problems with my hubby try having someone else teach you. Good Luck and Be Safe

 

I'd be thinking about getting some training from an independant source.

 

It will come to you with patience and practice! It does take some time to get the double clutching down smooth. I know, because I learned to do it too!

 

Yes you will get the double clutching, just remember your tachometer is your friend! Oh and after you drive in heavy traffic you will start to relax. Just go a little slower then the flow of traffic and it will all be in front of you instead of around you. I drive chicago traffic atleast 4 times a week and it still can be a little stressful at time but just take a deep breath and roll on.

 

I agree with all the answers, you'll get it. I've been driving over a year, and still have trouble 3rd to 4th. Most trucks have a 'sweet spot' where they like to shift, and each gear is just a tad different. Watch your tach when you shift, and it'll come to ya.

 

I agree with the post for some "outside instruction. I've tried to teach several of my ex's to drive. notice I said X's? let someone else teach you how to drive,costs more, but you'll still be married when your done. good luck, let me know how it turns out.

 

Been there. If you are having "verbal nastyness" just with a scratch when you shift the 5th time you have driven, that is only a clue to what is ahead of you.

My ex was supposed to be training me. I had a class A permit. His idea of instruction was to lay in the sleeper and scream profanity at me when I scratched a gear or hit the brakes not to his liking. I found out a lot about him and his feelings for me in that short four months. He really didn't want me to drive. He didn't have the heart of a teacher.

In my opinion you will never be able to learn correctly in that environment. I couldn't. Beware. Lives depend on you learning correctly.

My marriage ended as a direct result of our time together in a truck. I had fallen in love with the work and life, though. I left him, went home to my mom and did my internet research and found Watkins Shepard who would teach me to drive, and omit the part of going out with a trainer. I was that adverse to being in another truck with a fellow human being.

Here I am, almost four years later. I am a new owner operator. Loving life and grateful that my ex brought me to trucking and that trucking showed me that he wasn't the one....

 

I agree with the others here. I tried to teach some friends to drive a standard vehicle(not the same as a bigrig I know) and it seems like you get madder at the mistakes of people you know.

 

I cant tell you how many times my wife cryed going down the road while she was learning. The shifting comes to you in time. Just dont give up. I finaly had to tell my wife that I didnt want to hear "I cant do this" any more. I feel I was more patient with my wife than I would have been with someone els. I did have to learn to not say anything about her driving that was not a safty issue. I let her scrape gears and whatever. The biggest mistake I probably made in training her was not making her learn to back like she should. It almost cost us our job because this new company made us do a 45 back between two trailers in the driving test for new hires. Also a little tip. In traffic. Just stay in your lane. All you are doing when you are in traffic is waiting in line. I like the second lane because I dont have to deal with the oncoming traffic. So. When in town during traffic, try to be in the sec. lane and just wait in line.. While waiting in line watch the other cars around you. Make sure they arnt going to crash into you. You can watch peoples driving language just like their body language. You can predict what they are going to do by the way they move their head and move their car. Subtle movements they make are a dead give away. Try it. You'll see. Good Luck. Peace.