Another annoying newbie question!

They used to have a 30 day school, and down the road you went. What they have now is a 10 day "orientation", no student training. That was a great company for 'real' drivers before Kuntz replaced everyone in administration who made the company what it was with lawyers. First guy he fired was Tom Walter, probably the best truck driving instructor who ever lived, and whose name is still spoken with reverence by old-timers there, and me. I wish I could have that man's children. Last year he was still with Jones Bros. across the highway, and they'll probably bury him in their lot.

 

Here fixed it for ya!

 

MSP area is good for freight. I live in Rochester (70 miles southeast) and drive for Roehl; they have a yard in St. Paul Park that is my home base. I also went to their three-week CDL school in Marshfield, WI (now called Wisconsin CDL School) and would give it high marks.

I did some research on community college programs when deciding where to attend CDL school, and the comments from people I found were that while community college programs are fine, they take longer in calendar time (affects expenses and/or loss of income while you are attending)...and, you may not get much more actual drive time than at a dedicated CDL school, because they add in other courses to the program that may not apply that much to being a truck driver. Some posters above seem to have a different experience/opinion, so treat what I'm saying as just another data point, but worth thinking about.

 

Ehhh... thanks, but I think "fear" is a better fit. Killing someone, or letting them cause you to be involved in their crash/death... "respect" doesn't seem to me to adequately convey the possible consequences of a moment's inattention or allowing for a moment one vehicle-length too little following distance.

I mean, everyone is always really sorry, afterward, devastated, even. They rationalize that "There was nothing I could do" and "They came out of nowhere", and often wonder "What if I left Point A 10 seconds earlier or later? I wouldn't have been there, at that point on the planet, then". They rarely if ever wonder "What if I hadn't been exceeding the speed limit (for 20-30 minutes, or all day) before the crash"?

That AAA study that found ~75% of fatal truck/4 wheeler crashes were the sole fault of the 4-wheeler...? I think 75% of those could probably have been entirely avoided with a tad more "professional" driving.

Visual perception is NOWHERE near as reliable as it seems, as anyone who has searched for something for 5 minutes before finding it right under their nose, or has (or almost) pulled out in front of oncoming traffic can attest (or you can look it up). Motorists do not commonly make L turns directly in front of oncoming traffic, or run directly into cop cars with lights blazing, or into school buses and trains and semis without braking because they were each somehow rendered temporarily invisible.

The eyes and the brain lie. Most of the world is perceived as a blur and the brain fills in the details, often incorrectly. Stare at this period . and try to read the words as far to the L/R U/D as you can. That will suggest just how tiny the area of central clear vision is. I think a "driver" needs to remain afraid of the lies their eyes can and do tell them. One of the differences in steering and driving is doing the things you don't have to do before it's too late to do anything about it, and evaluating that second-by-second. Lives may depend on it; that seems like something to fear, to me.

"Be wary then, best safety lies in fear." -Shakespeare

 

You make a GREAT point with this post.....I can only add that I wish i had posted it 1st!...we are in 100% agreement......in totality..

 

Thanks! As a (former) amateur magician, and a complete hack, I often could not believe people could not detect how a trick was performed, even repeatedly, with my clumsy handling of cards and coins and the like. A real magician told me, "Son, that's good enough. It doesn't take anything close to perfection to fool 'em. Their brains make them see what they expect to see, and that's all they see, even if they're trying". I thought he was full of it, but he was right.

 

That was taken exactly eight words too far.