Buffalo Tractor Trailer Institute Instructer lost his cool today

I didn't see any valid points raised, I saw a problem child.

 

I think that is clouding your judgement. It's quite common when a person sees that someone has done something that is highly ill-advised to not find anything credible in what the person has to say. That's your opinion and you are welcome to it.

 

Alright. What valid points did you see raised?

 

The points centered around the fact that it makes sense, with how short trucking school is, to teach according to what the test will be. The theory that making the box smaller will make it easier to do when trying the maneuver when the box is bigger sounds good, but it just doesn't bear fruit. The OP said that those who were getting the truck and trailer in with a 10 ft box then struggled with a 12 ft box. I experienced the same thing when my instructor didn't realize that she had paced off the cones incorrectly to make the box 1-1/2 in. smaller than regulation. Once we had a 12 ft box, we had to relearn the maneuver according to the new angle of steering needed to get the truck and trailer in the spot successfully.

 

I've never had to parallel park as part of a CDL test, when you were tested were you required to center the truck in the space?

 

In TX we have to parallel park. Not centered in the space, but extremely difficult to get front tires and drive tires to clear if not close to center.

 

In New York that's not a problem. I looked up the diagram for their skills test. They don't put an obstacle that needs to be cleared in front of the space you're parking in, they use spaces they use for the offsets, the only difference is they get 140 feet to maneuver for the offset and 100 feet to maneuver for the parallel, there is nothing inhibiting the tractor swing. They're also not required to be centered so that means if you can park in a 10 foot box you can park in a 12 foot box and you don't need a different approach angle, you don't need to change a thing. If an entire class started failing once they had more space to work with I think that's because a problem child planted the idea in their heads that more space makes the maneuver more difficult, not because it actually is more difficult.

If anyone here has recently tested in NY please let me know if I'm wrong about the course layout.

I've never before heard a driver say that more space is a bad thing.

In your case I don't know how your course was laid out, if you had something in front of your space simulating a car/trailer then I can see it making a difference.

EDIT: Found video of test course, I was wrong about the course layout for the test.

 

In Texas there are 4 cones at each corner for the parallel. Come in with the wrong angle and the drives will encroach on the front cone. If the drives do clear, still have to worry about that front end. You could be right, but my personal experience was that a wider box just changed how the maneuver needed to be executed. I found a narrower box no easier and no harder because once I knew the angle needed, it is easy from there. Just get the straightline back distance correct.
Truthfully, I didn't really think about how the cones are setup in different states varying. That definitely changes the whole discussion.

 

I was going to do a little research today to see what was different about the Texas cdl test to try and figure out what you were talking about, but what you described is the same as everyone else.

You are correct that if you do a certain set of maneuverings to get into a 12 foot box, it won't necessarily work for a 10 foot box. However you can use the same maneuverings from a 10 foot box on a 12 foot box.

To my other point - actually learning how to back versus learning by rote:

Every week my company wants to bring 15 inexperienced drivers in for orientation. They all have their CDL already. One of the first things we do is basically a CDL test. Instructor demos first, then has the new driver go. More than half don't "pass" on that first attempt. We spend a few days working skills and get the pass rate up to 3/4 to go out with the road trainer. Once it's all said and done about 1/3 of the inexperienced hires are terminated for skill issues.

It doesn't matter if you have a CDL if you can't get hired, or worse get hired then hit a bunch of stuff because you don't know what to do.

For almost a year, we didn't hire drivers from a certain CDL school in my terminals area. Neither did 2 other companies with yards in the area. We didn't want any of their drivers because they had a 75% fail rate. The school made some changes and we started hiring from them again. It's important to actually understand what you're doing.

 

You can't do the same maneuvering for a 10 ft box as for a 12 ft box. I just explained that it will lead to the drive tires or front of the truck encroaching. What is it you are failing to understand?