I tried to learn how to drive trucks at the truck driving academy over at...

Schneider National has a great training program

 

I have heard good things about Schneider. Look I had the same problem backing. To the big schools you are pushed too hard & not taught properly.They just want you gone & fill your space with someone else. I found a little hole in the wall school & they spent time & were patient & allowed me time to learn. Visit & watch carefully how they teach before you sign & hand money over. The first well known school claimed I was not trainable. Threw me out after taking my money. I passed my backing & roadtests the first time at the second. You get certified by Schneider & hired I hear they forgive the school cost. A S driver told me that. Anybody got more to add? I still need that 1st job. Get told I need to go & pay for a company school. I'm deep in debt alredy getting my license.

 

I got my original licence 3 years agou off of a combined 2 hours in the driver seat from a shool in tucson. Six moths ago i paid for a refresher course ($500) and a third party driving test so that i could get my licence back. I sacraficed 6 moths and worked for a local company (Belly dumps) and took it upon my self to use a bit extra gas every day, so that i could simulate docking and turns. I am confident going into an OTR job because of that. Good luck!

 

Well lets see... It was 2 weeks in Greenbay... 2 weeks back at my local terminal (Indianapolis) and 1 week out on the road with a trainer... (some it took them longer with trainer out on the road...

If you show signs of not being able to shift ext.. you can roll over to the next class coming threw... They go out of there way to make you feel comfortable with the truck before you go out on your own.. That was my experience with them and I witnessed many people getting extra attention with the trainers to help them out... They would even stay after class hours to help them...

 

You should of had a talk with your instructor I had the same problems in school talked to them and they understood and just gave me plenty of warning before my turn.
You will need to get use to driving in alot of traffic I did and was fine.

The first day out on the road they could not belive that I had never driven a rig before.
I use to pull trailers with a good size load on them alot and that is what helped me out alot.

I pulled a 65 foot trailer arround a few times my boss ended up hitting our fence with it.

I told him get out of his truck and let me show you how to do it.

I got in pulled away from the fence went down the road turned it arround in one shot came up beside the fence asked him were he wanted it and told him that it would sit there unless I moved it again.

He pointed out the spot and said he would be supprised if I hit that spot on the first try I told him move out of my way and you should of seen his jaw drop once I hit it on my first try.
All of that was prior to me getting my CDL. The longer the trailer the easier it is to back he did not realize that he was trying to pull into our small lot with the trailer he did not know about the off tracking. The longest trailer he had ever pulled was a 18 foot car trailer.
The 65 footer was an old mobile home trailer frame that we put a military communications box on. That was fun to lift that big box onto the trailer it required another trailer and or winch truck to pull it up on top.

 

I liked Swifts program, 2 weeks of backing on the range, 45's 90's offsets, parallels on both sides, serpentine, and some other ones, then a week of road training, I was in a truck with 2 other students and the instructor, and got about 600 miles of driving through out the week.

That was mixed driving, lots of city and rural driving with a good chunk of highway thrown in. Got to do 80/94 from Gary,IN to South Bend, IN at about 4am when we were going to the CDL testing place.

I felt real good about it all in all. I wasnt to pleased until we started the road training and everything started to click in to place.

 

As good as Schneider is reported to be, I'd still go to a third party first. In my case, I am heavily in favor of SAGE - lots of yard time, lots of one-on-one in-cab,and sufficient on-road time.

No school is going to turn you into an expert. The best you can really hope for is to not be an out-and-out danger to others on the road.

(Oh, Schneider now does a lot of training in simulators, according to the lady at Schneider I talked to. I'm of mixed feelings about that)

 

Well, I was the very first class that experience the trainer.. they only had one at the time so not everybody did it... The one they did have was big and had 3 screens, front and 2 angled that gave you a real feeling of driving... One thing I can say about the trainer is they get to throw more things at you that you may not get to experience on the road training.. That I thought was pretty cool... People in Greenbay are trained to watch out for the big Orange trucks.. They all know that the Orange trucks are people who are training so they give you plenty of room and stay the heck out of your way...

So, they throw things like people cutting you off, people pulling out in front of you ext... I see where it is a decent "tool" to help teach people drive a truck.... One thing I loved about Schneider was the skid pad.. Far as I know nobody has one but Schneider.. It was a grate training experience to be able to feel how a truck reacts in a slid and how the trailer does as well.. VERY useful information by learning that...