How not to do a pre-trip

Eh, ive seen worse sadly. Had one trainee i kicked out of my rig who argued that "only an idiot checks all this crap every day because its the "companys job to maintain the truck". That said....yikes

 

this guys pretrip is amazing.

 

The best part is they film it and post it for everyone in the world to see.

 

Sadly that is exactly what the "modernized" CDL pre-trip is for your license examination. As a third party tester and trainer it drives me nuts how much they have dumbed down the CDL exam. Could the presenter have done a better job of looking professional, yes, but the reality is more than half the states have adopted the new modernized exam which is very short and out of logical order for how you would do a pre-trip in the real world.

The AAMVA sets the procedures for CDL exams, with FMCSA approval, and they decided that they wanted to get the automatic failure air brake test out of the way first rather than "waste time" having the examiner watch a perfectly good pre-trip and then the student messes up the 4 part air brake check, so they moved it to the front of the line. They also decided that if you know how to inspect one axle then you are good to go, so we only score you on the steering axle. Overall we went from 140+ items on a combination vehicle exam down to less than 90 items that need to be inspected to pass the CDL exam! And, they allow you to use a memory aid during the test!

You should see the new skills test, they have taken all the challenge out of it by eliminating the parallel park and alley dock, instead only requiring you to back up in a straight line, pull forward and stop with your front bumper in a 3 foot box, offset pull forward and offset reverse. The only challenging part is the box is now the same size for every combination, not measured to your specific vehicle so if you show up in a 53' sleeper it will be the same box you have to offset back into that the guy with the single axle day cab and 28' pup trailer has to back into.

As for the comments about being on the side of the road, this is normal practice at many DMVs, especially in city areas. I took a student into Red Hook, Brooklyn many years ago, before we could test out of state permits in Pennsylvania, and the entire test was done on the street, including parallel parking between two random vehicles - not cones on a controlled course.

 

They actually think they are doing good.

I had one ask me about my truck because it’s the same as his. After he told me what he liked and disliked about his I asked if he had drum brakes or disk like mine and he was utterly dumbfounded and said “I have no clue”.
I asked how he could do a pre trip and not know the difference? Got that Dumbfounded look again, I had to walk away because I got that urge/feeling that the world would be a better/safer place without him in it and there were just too many witnesses around!

 

Well, I'd say the dude tried to do a pre trip, and that's good on him.
The fact that he never got out of the truck is disturbing. I mean, Really?

 

It ended and I immediately had the same reaction!

 

I guess for benefit of the doubt, maybe he was doing only the in cab portion for the video. When I got my CDL in 2018 in KY, it was divided into in-cab, tractor, and trailer. Examiner usually would pick 1 of the 3 at random for the test, but could do all 3 if they wanted to test for it. Everything in cab was supposed to be done in succession for the exam.

 

I think my biggest gripe with the pre trip exams, at least since when I took my test 6 years ago, is basically just following a script and pointing and touching things.

If someone has no idea about the basic mechanical functions of a truck, I find it hard to believe they can execute a truly thorough and useful pretrip.

There's usually a pretty good warning that catastrophic failure of something is coming. If someone doesn't know what it actually does, they'll just forget the 'script' after two weeks, and never check it again. Now their pre trip is halfway useless because they're only spotting issues after it's a complete safety hazard instead of before.