Has your CDL made you a better driver?

I've always been a good driver with and without a cdl.

 

it makes one aware of things, even off duty time at home. if all driving schools made the drivers aware of things like we have to be, or if fines, jail time, loss of license were as big a thing to car drivers as they are to us, nearly everyone would be a better driver.

but then again, just having finished my 4th Miller, makes me all giddy and fuzzy inside.

 

Maybe I should teach at one of these schools then.......but I do love the open road

 

I drive like nothing is behind me and only I exist

 

If you don't think about protecting it when you're driving something other than a big truck, it hasn't...imo

 

cute,lol

 

Has getting a CDL made me a better driver? Uh, no. But perhaps age and experience has. Considering all the different types of driving courses I've taken over the years, (EVOC, pursuit, defensive and on and on and on,) getting the CDL made no difference. How can a little card make any difference? It can't. Perhaps the things that go with it can, but the license itself? Nah.
The big thing, is to never stop learning, and never get complacent.

 

I think having a CDL has taught me to be a more defensive and more patient driver, if anything. It took a couple of incidents earlier in my career to teach me how not to get caught up in other driver's stupidities.

Long-haul even taught me how good driving starts before you even get behind the wheel. When I manage my 10-hour break responsibly, that means I'm not starting out the next day automatically behind the 8-ball; that means I'm not driving everywhere up against the governor or like my hair's on fire. I'm on schedule, so I don't feel the need to take certain "shortcuts" or take certain chances. I'm not behind schedule, so what's it to me if I let off the hammer a couple of notches to avoid an accident?