Central Ref. & not being trained on a 53'

bring that up to the teamsters school, let me know how you make out.

first of all, if the student has any self confidence, he (or she) should be able to pull a 53 footer during the road test at the employer. if the student PASSED his (or her) road test, that student HAS PROVEN that he (or she) KNOWS HOW TO MAKE TURNS, with any sized trailer....

the schools only help a student get the CDL license. no school can teach everything about every facet of truck driving, the cost, time involved would be prohibited......the real learning comes when a student goes to the company, and drives around with a trainer, provided THAT trainer is actually any good as well. God only knows the horror stories of bad trainers, at some of those companies.

not too many students can handle a 45 foot trailer, let alone a 48 or God forbid a 53 footer.....as long as the student can demonstrate that he (or she) can handle a small trailer, then going to a larger one should be no problem at the trucking company they go to work for.

its the way it is, no one is about to change this. as it stands now, "a vehicle representative of those being on the roads shall be and can be used for training and testing"......"a vehicle must be road worthy and DOT inspected, and conform to DOT specifications at the time of manufacture"...

as long as a truck, a truck tractor, and a trailer conform to DOT specs, its allowed to be used for training and testing purposes.....

now doesn't anyone think that ALL trucking companies know this...????

you won't be told, no experience no job, all because all one ever did was pull a pup or 45 foot trailer, rather than a 53 footer.....

wish to continue this......????

 

The school I went to up here in WHIZCOWSIN used 48's. Not alot of difference between them and 53's. Yeah you gotta get used to a different set up but after screwing it up a couple of times it's no issue

 

Schools use smaller trailers because they are cheaper, easier to train with, use less fuel, less chance of something happening out on the road. Now there maybe some schools that use 53's. Probably because they got them cheap or something. The only thing a school is doing is getting your license in hand so that you may go on with a trainer. Now if you go through school at a company then chances are they are going to use 53's. First of all because that is what they have on hand, and second of all they may as well train you on their equipment since that is going to be what you will be using.

Some of you may not realize but Rerun is a trainer at a trucking school, so he has a little heads up on the situation. I gotta go with the guy who has the inside on the facts!

Another thing to consider is that all of these schools are not one company or related or governed in any way as to what they are suppose to train on. Well I do believe there is a minimum length. Rerun probably knows what that is. So with that being said its "willy nilly" all over the country with different length trailers. This is probably one reason that trucking companies prefer certain schools over others.

 

One thing you "newbies" gotta learn. Much of what you think is "common sense" does not apply in this trade.

No driving school can or will teach you anything but standard rules/practices (the basics). These apply the same regardless of what you're driving. But it's up to you to learn from then on. Trucking is way too diverse in equipment, etc to try to put it all in one school.

Seriously, after a year in, you'll be amazed at how much you've learned and learned well by actually doing it. At 5 yrs you'll flinch when you think about how "green" you used to be.

 

Sounds like your boss is way more worried about $$$$$ than turning students into truck drivers.

We've all heard the term puppy mill. You work for a CDL mill. How do you sleep at night?

 

I'm looking forward to that time

 

thank god i grandfathered into the CDL. this is the same as going to school and driving an automatic transmission, getting to your trucking job and not knowing how to shift gears

 

im starting school for central refrigerated in Feb.! can u give me some advice? is this a good company to work for? Thanks, Jeff

 

the school that i went to had a single axel day cab tractor and a 48ft trailer for practicing in the yard and taking the test at the dmv
thay also have a tandem axel sleeper truck with a 53ft trailer that we used for training on the road

 

i sleep quite well thank you. my particular employer is not a mill compared to my former school...

but NO school is going to teach everything. it cannot be done for the tuition charged..why don't you open up a school and see for yourself what is involved, before you make an Arse out of yourself.....