Going to Swift and I gotz Questions!:)

Im assuming your talking about the road test during orientation, if so dont worry about it. Because if its like the on in Minnesota all you have to do is drive a day cab with a 53 down the interstate or highway for one or two exits turn around and come back, no pretrip no backing. This was done on the first day of orientation and it took each of us 10 minutes, its just basically to prove you can control the truck, I grinded a few gears and dude didnt even bat an eye at it. So dont stress over it and youll be fine man. Good luck and let me know if you got any questions, ive been with em for almost 3 months now.

 

Thought I'd chime in here.......

VickW is the terminal manager at the Houston terminal, he's a great guy, I drive out of the houston terminal and have been there for a year and a half now. I see you are in Oregon so I assume you'll be at the Troutdale terminal. If I were you I'd ignore the above post.......Swift has gone wild on safety the past few months and since there is no more driver shortage it's a little tougher to not only get a job, but also to keep it. They are trying to clean things up and get rid of unsafe/non productive drivers. Rightfully so, more miles for the rest of us Houston even requests a personal interview before hiring, not just a quick online questionnaire and you're hired. The best advice I can give you is to do what I did. Call up the driving schools in your area and ask for a half day with one of their instructors. I found one that charged me $240 I think but I got to drive around for 4-5 hours and practice. It would sure save you some stress and the road test really isn't that hard if you are confident in your driving. You go for about 20 minutes, do 2-3 left turns, 2-3 right turns and run up and down the freeway a few miles, then back to the terminal and back into a parking spot.....it would be alot easier for you if atleast got to have a little wheel time before the test

You will be asked to walk the instructor through a pre-trip......he'll point to a truck and say show me a pre-trip and let's go. When you drive don't hit any curbs and you'll be fine. I'll check back tomorrow and see if you have any other questions, other than that, I'm in Salt Lake City headed to Seattle.........good luck to you,

 

You got 3 Chances...don't worry about it. You've driven a truck before. If you go to Phoenix, chances are your road test will be in town. They want to see how you react to people stepping out in front of you, cars pulling out in front of you, cars hitting the brake abruptly, etc. Hubby said there were some pretty tight turns. I'm not real sure if they will make you drive down a grade or not...just make sure you are up to par with down hill grades and braking. Hubby seen them put a guy back through for being geared to high.

Yep, yep! The WHOLE pretrip inspection too. Someone had posted what a correct pretrip inspection would include over in the Trucking Regulations thread.....I believe it was posted under Logging for Pretrip or something like that. Along with 7 step airbrake....they are big on the 7 steps...and tug test....and GOAL. They will put you in a situation and you will be expected to GOAL.

Ummm, my best advice is ....learn to deal with it. Every body in the trucking industry deals with some form of BS or another. Heck everyone has to deal with BS...ain't no way around it, might as well learn how to deal with it.

Sure wish I could help ya on this one but I can't. But best of luck to you.

 

Good luck - and keep us posted on your progress!

 

When I went through orientation the road test included, driving on the service road not even on the highway. But there were a couple of tight turns that you had to make. When it came to backing in I told the tester at the time, that I did not feel comfortable backing in between to parked trucks. His response was "at least you honest and don't worry about it, you trainer will take care of that for you" I past the test and that was that..

 

Chill out, relax abou the road test. You said you have only been out of the seat since 2006. It'll all come back to you so fast you'll feel like you've never been out of it. I road tested after having been out of the seat since 2000, and did fine. Company's insurance carrier still said 'no', so I wasn't able to go back to it. Couldn't find any company who would take me after being out that long.

 

LilBit is right. It will all come back to you. I drove 20 yrs took 12 yrs off. As soon I started the truck it was like I never left. Relax and enjoy........