How did you learn to drive?

you stood in line at dunkin donuts 24 hours a day
of course pollock were $.05 lb Cod .25

but gussie was always busy over at star fisheries
dehyde closed because all the yuppies bought all the falling down houses in east gloucester

 

The first time I ever drove a big truck was when I was 14. It was an old two-stick Mack (how many remember those?). I grew up around farms in the south. My uncle was drunk from corn whiskey one evening, and if we didn't get out of the cotton fields, we were going to miss supper. I crawled out of that wet field pulling a cotton wagon, with a drunk uncle screaming at me ever inch of the way. Met my daddy up on the highway, and he let me play around in that truck all through school. Graduated to a Budweiser truck, then hauling logs, then farm and heavy equipment, and now OTR.

So, I'm self taught because I didn't want to miss supper one night and because my drunk uncle made me mad so I was going to figure it out in spite of him.

 

one thing I didn't mention was learning the DOT rules.

first time out in my 6 wheeler, was stopped in Tenn. and asked for my license, log book, ect.

handed him my car license and asked what a logbook was.

he didn't believe me!! asked me,"how long you been driving?"

me,"about 5 hrs".

him," NOT TODAY, AS A TRUCK DRIVER!!"

me, "uh, about 5 hrs."

well once he figured out it was my first day, he shut me down and called my company in NC.

they had to send a driver in a company car out to trade off with me. no ticket to me.but a warning to company.

while we waited I learned all about logs,diff licensing, DOT regs and inspections.

they were real nice.

they taught me and had me follow them around while they inspected trucks.

after that I'll stop in a scale if I have a question about a reg or such. always get a polite answer.

if you really don't know and don't have an attitude, they are more than willing to help.

 

It was skool for me. Drove smaller straight flatbed trucks delivering oil in the early 80's and went to IITR in Clackamas in 89. Remember having 100's of maps of different cities saved................would write more but late for work lol

 

I didn't select one, because for me it was a combination of every item.

 

I will need to vote twice( Here in Chicago we can do that).
1st go around in 83' was taught by my Dads friend, diesel mech. who owned 2 trucks that were leased on where he worked. Ran containers around chicago, Later did ltl and short road till 94' ish.

Now, Went thru Company training and been back at it about 14 mo.

 

I grew up in Brooklyn N.Y. right in the city. No one here to teach you how to drive truck. When i was 20 years old my parents sent me to Commercial driver Training In Farmingdale (long Island) n.y. where i obtained my NY state class 1 lic. When i was 21, i packed my stuff and moved to Ft.Worth and started my career with FFE out of Lancaster, The good back then small FFE. I have been doing LTL driving Daycabs for the last 21 years.

 

I marked "private training", apparently the only one to do so.

You could arguably say I was "company trained", but, not in the same way you think of Swift, Schneider, etc. training programs.

I always loved trucks growing up as a kid, all I ever wanted to do was drive a truck. Come high-school, interests changed a bit, but, after high-school, for various reasons, I became interested again.

I managed to come in contact with a heavy haul trucking company. I told them I was interested in learning to drive a truck, and I wondered if they could help me with that goal. They were happy to oblige.

(Keep in mind, this was all during college classes).

I spent probably the first 3 months primarily doing ONE thing. Backing up trailers. 3-axle lowboys, stepdecks, flatbeds, flip-tails. When a truck got back, I'd often be told to get in and put it in its hole, or if they just finished fixing a trailer to hook to it and back it into its spot. This was all with a little single-axle Ford L9000 with a 6-71 Detroit and a 10-speed Roadranger. LOVED THAT TRUCK! It was a junker, noisy, spring-ride, and I loved every minute of it. Why? Because it was something to practice on.

When none of the trucks needed parking, I'd hook to whatever trailer was at the yard and back it into holes or little coned areas I set up for myself.

All the while, I started learning to run a forklift, too.

When I didn't want to back trailers in, I'd make little circuits with the truck in the yard. I could only grab about 3 gears going up, and then I'd down-shift 3 gears. It wasn't much, but, it was practice shifting.

Recently, I was told, the two primary drivers who taught me had a number of conversations about whether or not I was really committed to learning to drive a truck. They said, after a couple months of just circling the lot grabbing and dropping gears and backing trailers up, they were convinced this was more than just a passing interest.

All the while, I'd start jumping along on machine moves to help out. I was taught to load a fairly wide array of machines, how to chain and strap loads down. All that stuff. I liked it because I was getting to go ride in a truck and play with some construction equipment, the drivers loved it because they had someone to help on the strapping and chaining. Excavators, dozers, graders, roto-mills, loaders, got to load all sorts of machines.

Much of my early "learning to drive" was done simply by watching, and asking questions. One driver in particular I rode with a lot. He has driven for 49 years as of this year, and can teach more about driving in a 2 hour stint than most schools could in a month. He's a great teacher, loud, a lot of bark, but, he wants you to learn it right. Not to mention the stories. He'd reminisce about the old Rio Grande cabovers pulling Red Mountain, could hear 'em for miles around.

The other benefit in all of this was seeing much more of trucking beyond the truck. By the time I had gone in for my CDL I had seen the loads, the weather, the days that just sucked! I had met ####### customers, and I had sat on the side of a mountain when the truck broke down.

And I still wanted to do it!

Maybe the training period shouldn't be a matter of time. Maybe a checklist, of many good, and many bad things you'll deal with in trucking. And once all of those boxes are checked off, and if you still want to drive, maybe then they'll cut you lose with your own rig.

I'd also say that the training period should be done with only a handful of experienced people. There's a reason for this. If you have one person teaching you at a driving school, then a trainer at a company, it's going to be significantly more difficult to develop a set of people who can help you. The greatest benefit of learning the way I did is that there are several people I can always get ahold of if I'm in a bind. When the guy who taught you to drive has 40 years or more of driving behind him, chances are, he's been in the same situation and can give you advice on what to do.

I'd do it all over again, the same way if I had to.

And at the ripe old age of 21 I've gotten to do loads like these:

 

Grew up in farming country north of Spokane. My only "car" was a pickup and since they are considered work vehicles, my old man was careful to make sure I learned to drive heavily loaded. That was the start of it... then heavy farm trucks for extra cash, etc. Not really commercial, but it did get me used to the "feel" of industrial trucks.

That said, went to CDL school (CDS, Lakewood, WA) some 25 years later. Straight into Swifts heavy division for 2 years; 3 years local job and now GTI's t/c fleet.