My school experience at TDDS in Lake Milton, OH - so far.

Everything that Bunk said above is still true to this day, except that they'll have you practice shifting and driving on site before going on the road. I wouldn't know about the campus housing (which is actually off-campus) as I lived close enough to drive there.

The 'yard/site' practice area still needs work, the site trucks used for backing maneuvers still are mostly junk with seats that don't adjust, some mirrors that are worthless, but overall, I passed everything the first try including the State tests, Pre-trip, Basic Skills (backing) and the Road Trip.

Then I went two additional days for passenger and school bus and passed that too. After learning to back a rig and trailer, the school bus was a piece of cake.

Overall, the instructors are good, with one exception of a certain guy who cannot keep his temper in check. He apologized the 2nd time he 'lost it'. We were cordial to one another and professional. He is a sticker for rules but perhaps he needs to find another line of work as his temper can be volatile.

Now there is one man there who is 81 years old. His name is Rich and he was THE BEST instructor in the world. I was having issues on Blind Side Backing and once I told him what I was getting on my results he instantly told me what I was doing wrong and the issue just disappeared. It worked so well that once getting down the Blind Side I had to do the Site Side (which I hadn't done for almost two weeks) and it was simply a complete reversal of the Sight Side and it too went right in.

Anyways, I'll have to agree with the 6 to 8k a piece (per student) being more than enough to keep their truck up better than they do. Many of them are used on site as they would NEVER be allowed on the road with as many issues as they have and some simple maintenance would fix a lot of the problems on them. Students should be able to adjust mirrors correctly for backing and seats.

All in all, I passed, so I guess that is the important part.

 

Let me be clear here. While this (and probably any) school does have it's faults, I would whole-heartedly recommend it. IF you pay attention, IF you study (at least a little) at night, IF you get your butt up and into the site trucks and practice your backing when you have 'site' training (which is what the outside backing training is called), you shouldn't have any issues with passing the State tests for Pre-trip Inspection, Backing Maneuvers and your Road tests.

Pay attention, ask questions (if something isn't clear), don't be lazy and sit in the 'site' room, just because you are cold. If you're cold, dress warmer, you'll need to do it when the temps drop below freezing. You'll get used it.

Don't whine, don't complain, you are not going to 'fix' anything. Learn to deal with it. Just roll with it and you'll do fine. I don't believe for a second that TDDS is a CDL mill as I learned plenty.

Best of luck!

It's a good school and I passed everything so you can too.

(I'm not just talking to Powerstroke here)