Dan Rather blasts trucking, industry blasts back

Will unlike some others ,I did read the whole thang. It's really sounds like what I when threw. These cdl mills; Come on. Look if you send 5000.00 of your money, Would you not get what you payed for. The driving school i when to said I will learn how drive a rig, safely. But like the lady said three weeks. First week paper work& tests mainly class room .the 2nd week 1/2 any way paper work dot & logs test. Then finals testing.Next 1/2 pre trip. With some range driving all backing.Two gears 1st & rev. 3rd week more backing & road. I my self only went on the road twice.The first staight up interstate lets go, shift some gears need to at 45mph on the on ramp.Thank god I didn't mess up.And kill someone or myself.I drove only to the next exit.Then some back roads where its two laned and the rig just fits in my lane.Looking at the two front spot mirror's.2nd day city driving. You know I was telling my self you got to kidding.GReen light go. 3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th,8th red light. What do you do. I hit the brakes and locked them up. Now I'm told you don't hit your brakes.You down shift. Ok Ok I hear ya!! But That day if there was a car in front of me I would have pushed it into traffic, An a ticket. There was a 3rd time my final road test.passed see ya thanks for the $5500.00. Really!!:smt119

 

Let try this way! my school $5075.00,They paid for the dot phy.and drug test.Nothing else!!!Class A license in florida $89.00. Hasmat $127.00.Twic card. $120.00. Then after orientation sign for one year for 2500.00 more or less. Lets see total come to a dollor mount of $7822.00 just to drive the first year making if your lucky $3500.00. So what's the problem!

 

That may be true.The goverment has got there hands in every thang. Next they be tell trucker when piss & poop. Sorry !!

 

it's not only most the drivers for those companies. it's also o/o's driving while loaded on booze and their mandatory 2-4 lines of meth, weaving all over the place, almost rear-ended another driver who is driving the speed limit in the right lane, and then having the nerve to get all worked up over it. from what i've seen during the overnight hours, a good chunk of the either fatigued or high flyin' drivers are o/o's. it's becoming a more frequent occurrence now, too. small carriers also have problematic drivers as well.

 

To believe everything you hear or to reject everything really takes the same amount of energy and thought.
I think the store did re-tell a lot of what is all over this board. But, to blame the cdl mills is only half of it.
I know some will not like what I am about to say, but, where is our own accountability. I wanted to become a trucker, and the first opportunity that appeared was the cdl mills. After research, warnings and advice from experienced drivers here, I decided I would be better off going to a private school because I wanted to get good training. I drove, behind the wheel everyday at school with the instructor right there teaching me. I drove in town, through town, and around town. learning to turn, learning about off tracking, learning to up shift, downshift, progressive shift, compound shift and even float gears. I learned to straight line back, alley dock back and even blind side back. I learned to couple and uncouple, slide my 5th wheel and my tandems. In fact on my last day, having had my cdl for just over a week, to graduate, I was in the lot, I had to drop one trailer and hook up to another, then was given the weights of my trailer as if I had been on a scale, I had to move my tandems and/or 5th wheel so that I was legal and balanced.

I was taught how to drive and operate a big rig, I still need to put in my time to gain experience, and fine tune my skills.

My point is, everyday, a wannabe comes in here and says they are heading off to a cdl mill, many experienced drivers try to warn them, but they ignore the advice of the experienced driver, then comes the "you were right posts". I was one of those wannabees, only I took the advice and found a good quality school. Truck Driving is about being in the drivers seat and making good decisions. Obviously ignoring the warnings of experienced drivers about these cdl mills is a poor choice.

I applaud her for speaking up and telling the truth to Dan and the public, but I will also continue to applaud the efforts of all those here who do their best to warn wannabees everyday! More like every hour of every day!!!

 

I'll assume they're just looking for more dirty laundry to make us look bad to boost their sorry ratings until they prove otherwise. Not that they care what common trash like me thinks.

 

They can look into the megacarrier's own CDL mills first. If they want to know something "special" they can contact me and I'll tell them my story. No BS, no lies, just a simple story with a surprise ending, and then another surprise!

 

I think they should make a reality show out of it. "CDL Mill Drivers"... It would have everything, from humor, fright, scandal, drugs, booze,... wow, really could you imagine.

Maybe since o many don't make it through the first year they could do a "Big Rig Survivor" type show and let the public vote them in or out like America Idol.

"Text 22340 to Keep trucker BOB on the road, text 22341 to get him off the road"

 

Could'nt agree more,POLITICIAN'S AND TRUCKER'S DON'T PLAY WELL TOGETHER!