2 weeks of school left, scared to drive local?

I was scared too. It won't take long for you to feel okay about it. In fact you will feel even better in 2 weeks. I drive my truck better than my pickup, most everyone on here does too and we all were rookies once.

 

The fact that you're a little scared now is a good thing. It means you're normal. Anyone who says they were not scared when they first started driving a big truck is either lying or crazy. Take your time, read EVERY sign and you'll do just fine.
Also, you may actually be better off going local right away. Here's the deal: any idiot out there can get on the highway, set the cruise control and go. Doing local work will get you more of the important experience faster: backing, close-quarters maneuvering and the like. If you don't want to go OTR and have local options available do it... most folks do OTR to get the experience necessary to get a local job.

 

Take the local job. You can do it.

Good luck to you!

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Here's the reality of being a local driver. I'm assuming the local job offers are either in food service, beverage delivery, or LTL. All of these jobs, you will be delivering to some tight, difficult places. If the only experience you have is a couple hours of traing from a school, then yes, your most likely gonna have an accident, and your career might be over before it even starts. You have to remember that you'll be the new guy at work, which means you're gonna get all the #### runs that nobody wants, and there's a reason for that. I'm not trying to scare you off, I'm just telling it like it is. I want you to succeed and have a long career in this industry. And that's why I think you should start off OTR. Learn this industry, and learn how to drive a truck first, before you start making local deliveries to cities. If not, OTR, maybe regional, where you're out a week at a time, and you maybe able to stop by the house a couple times in between as well. Take it from a long time local driver, who's made deliveries in the NE for years, I started off OTR, and I'm glad I did, because the experience I gained definately helped me when I started making local deliveries to cities like NYC, Philly, Baltimore, and DC on a regular basis.

Looking back, there's no way I would of had the experience to handle these cities, if the only experience I had was a couple hours of school training. I'm not saying it's impossible to start off local, I know a few drivers that never did OTR, but if you wanna play it safe, in my opinion, go OTR or Regional first.

 

So, what stories have you heard that's got you shaking? Keep in mind that the person telling the scary stories may be one of those people that can't walk and chew gum at the same time. How scary is that story now?

What causes accidents? Complacency. What happens to a fighter when he becomes complacent?

"Stop standing in front of him, Michael!"

The guy had the fight won. Ahead on all scorecards. Got complacent and was out before he knew it. Newer drivers seem to forget that they are pulling a trailer. Older drivers think that they have it in the bag. Let your guard down a split second and it's over.

In my line of work, it's drivers not reading their OSOW permits completely or hitting bridges. So even after all these years, I am still paranoid.

You've heard of defensive driving before. There are things that you will learn to automatically keep your defense up. Certain ways to set your turns up. Backing in to a hole. Running in stop and go traffic. Backing into a driveway off of a highway. Apply yourself to learning.

Don't run from any challenge. Accept ALL challenges.

 

If you are unsure which way to go, then I would try a regional job first. It will give you a taste of both worlds and then after a year or so you can decide which you like better, the local city driving or the highway driving.

Regardless, once you get that first year in, that will open a lot of doors with the "better" companies. Can you tell us what the local companies are that are hiring?

 

This is some really good insight.

 

This is exactly right. I give it 3 days of being local, scared, and you'll have an accident. You need to go at the very least REGIONAL, to learn how to DRIVE and BACKUP, before you try LOCAL

 

Being scared is one thing, being nervous in a tight spot in a city is a recipe for disaster, especially if your by yourself. Heres a thought for you. Try the Dollar General account. You'll learn how to backup real quick on that account. But its WORK, you don't just drive a truck. Give it about 6 months on Dollar General account, and you'll be #### good at backing up, and a lot more comfortable with yourself.