Ok, my hubby has 2 weeks left with his mentor. He says he feels comfortable driving and handling the truck. However, he is going OTR and is being trained with a driver that has a dedicated route. This route is from Anniston, AL to Ocala, FL. He stays on major highways/interstates so he hasn't really had experience with obstacles such as low overpasses, bridges, roads that trucks can't use, laws with idling, map reading, managing his time, tunnels, tolls and the other things thatgo along with driving OTR. I may be a little over concerned but here is my question: Should he ask for a little more training with an OTR driver? Would the company frown upon this request? He works for Swift. He and his mentor have a great relationship and I would be almost for certain that his mentor would be more than willing to take him OTR for a couple weeks so my hubby could get that experience. Thanks in advance. ~Samantha~ aka Fred
Your husband needs to be confident in his driving or he has no business driving. By all means, if he feels more comfortable driving OTR with the same trainer or another trainer, then he needs to ask for it. I think any company would rather give him extra training time than lose him (one way or another) because he did not get enough. Good luck and please let us know.
Well, there is a couple things that his present trainer can do. (since he has a decent one, the next might not be) Have him write down all of his questions and ask him. Make sure he knows how to scale a load, slide his axles, etc... You could ride with someone a year, but you don't actually start learning until you are out on your own. When you have no one to ask, what lane should I be in? etc. That is when the real learning kicks in. When you get to a point in this job when you no longer learn anything it is time to do something else.
Have him talk to his student manager, he probably wont have any problems letting him go out with a OTR driver.
I ended up with a trainer that was on a dedicated route, too. But, the company gave him a packet of everything that I should learn. He was a great guy. Even though he was used to travelling certain routes, he would make a point of showing me how to map out routes, and we went different ways so I could get used to different areas. I also asked him questions that he was more than able to answer. So, when I went solo I was confident and comfortable enough that I didn't have any issues. By all means, he should ask his current trainer EVERY question that come to mind. If he still isn't ready to go solo, then he should ask for a different trainer.
