A Thread for the Trainer

Thanks for posting there are alot of people out there like this (oooooohhhhh boy do i fit the bill) I just got out of driving school and I was like that too i knew the steps to backing and when the instructor stopped me to ask a question as to my next move I went into ###### mode same when I was driving nothing unsafe just when he asked about recovery gears I know them rememebred them but when i got around him and he started asking questions i lost it! So i was thinking is this gonna be the way when i got to state? Nope I just pretended the examiner was not there and passed! Just hope this will pass and think i will do just fine when i go to Van Buren AR to my driver tanier at USA Truck

 

I've trained just over a dozen guys in just under 2 years of training and by far my "best" student was a 67 year old guy who got introduced into trucking through the government because they found him fit to work and didn't think he should be collecting taxpayer money.

He was quite the character...never married, no kids, still lived with mom and dad even (who were in their 80s and 90s, respectively). He had previously been kicked off of another trainer's truck for reasons I wasn't made aware of until 2 days after he was on my truck. Basically, he had the attention span of a gnat and the learning capability of a newborn. He could drive though, but that was it. Backing...he hit a light pole in the middle of a parking lot with no other vehicles within a 40-50 yard radius. Needless to say, I slept little to none while he was driving and still had to do my shift. I was told just keep him on the truck until you go home, which was only 2 weeks, so I said OK. I must've aged 20 years in those 2 weeks.

The last day he's on my truck, we're delivering a load in WV and I back into a dock like the other thousands of times I've backed in and he wakes up wailing and screaming then forcefully opens the curtain to state he hit his head. I ask if he needs to go to a hospital, which he declines. So I think nothing of it going to our next pickup. Not another peep out of the guy as I drop him off to go on home time. Get a call from my dispatch the following Monday saying he's made a workman's comp claim. I was dragged through that ##### for 4 months until they finally rejected his claim.

And to finish this lengthy post (sorry), this is what was going to get him where ever his travels took him.

 

Here's my solution to the whole training issue:

1. It should be regulated by the DOT
2. All trucking schools should have to train using the same standards and a 40 hour minimum curriculum with no less then 20hrs behind the wheel for each student
3. Trainers should be on salary only and spend a minimum of 8hrs per days run in the passenger seat.
4. New drivers right out of school should be required to spend 8 weeks out with no home time and a minimum of 25,000 paid miles.

Everyone will be better off. The weak drivers will be weeded out. The carriers will make more money by suffering fewer losses and the general public will be safer.

JP

 

Right, because we all work for companies like Swift or JB Hunt? Or is that the only kind of trucking you know?

 

No. It's because these mega outfits are churning out most of the new drivers without regard to quality. It's not the new drivers fault if the object is to just make 'em a cheap source of labor. The trainers are burning out, the students are dropping out and only the driver mills seem to benefit, at least in the short term.

Training is a tough job in any profession and trainers should be compensated and compensated well. Not on miles but on training hours with a bonus for time spent away from home and for student achievment. Something has to change. Lets hope that with CSA2010 holdng companies accountable for their drivers,things will get better all the way around.

By the way, whatever happened to the Teamsters Union? I've been away from trucking for quite some time but I do remember a time when truckers had a voice. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Maybe I'm wrong but there seems to be a willingness to accept any krap that's handed out in order to get and keep a job.

JP

 

I remember my training experience at Wiley Sanders. I got lucky and had an O/O train me, but the guy could not sleep behind me. I met him at the yard in Troy, really nice guy. Things I noticed quickly:

Pre-Trip/Post-Trip inspection? What's that?
He loved his "Comic Books" and read mine too!
He wanted me to stand up and back up...
He had me driving team on the first day.
The truck, while a new W9, was messy but not disgusting.
He jumped me for cleaning and organizing the truck.
He finally passed me on to another trainer, cause he couldn't sleep. But he had me driving on the first day?

The second guy was much better, but had similar issues minus the unable to sleep behind me problem. Neither of them really showed me how to run the logs, effectively back into parking spots or doors, pre-post trips were nonexistent, and somehow they never got any citations.

Consequently I didn't make it very long at Sanders. And that was a shame. No one in my family had ever done anything like trucking, and I was a trailblazer of sorts.

Any of you Trainers care to share some of the how too's with the new logs, inspections, and anything else I can use to make my return easier?

I want to be known as a Professional Driver.

Thanks!

 

If some of these trainers would take time to visit, er drive, in Mejico, El Salvador,
Venezuela, etc. they'd realize our rules are among the safest. Or try Italy, Spain.
You'd have an insight to the 'bad habits' - not looking at the mirrors often enough,
tailgating, cutting off cars or other trucks. It's not that they have adult ADD, it's
how they drove in their countries. I drive in South Florida, I get a taste of it all.
Thanks for the tales, I rather do solo than train. Not even my spouse, no way.

 

Oh yes, good thing you used upper case letters to put your point across.
I'll be reading this thread to see if any of the trainers who turn over the
driving to the newbie, then jump in the lower bunk, *yes, to sleep* come here and explain their tactics.

Yep, that will be a good day.

 

I have been training for two years. If my company made me team the truck with a student I would quit today. I am in the passenger seat if the student is driving, sometimes late in the training I might sit in the bunk and do paperwork, just to let them know what it looks like to have that seat empty. Training does burn you out, quick. If you are forced to train one student right after the next, it will make you crazy. I typically stay out for four to five weeks at a time, that is too long to have a student with you, when you get a student finished up, you should be given a break for several days. You really do need the time to regain your sanity. I will stop training soon because of this, I enjoy it, but I am getting burned out.

 

Whats up trainers. I will be starting my CDL training with Central Ref Services Nov 1st. I'd love to find a trainer that is with CRS and live in Nor Cal. I would actually like to have some home time while on my 5 week training. Any suggestions please let me know.. Thanks in advance!