Should I Buy A Road Atlas For School?

I bought a deluxe 2015 Rand McNally recently at either a pilot or flying j and it was $29.99. Remember to save receipt. Atlases are a tax deduction.

 

It's common for mentors to give their students an atlas for a graduation present. By the time you need to replace it, you'll have earned enough fuel points to get the new one for free. (Assuming you don't use the points for food!) If you didn't get one, and can't afford the Deluxe, the paperback versions are cheap (make sure they're the Motor Carrier version, and not the car version), and will usually last a couple months in a truck.

The Deluxe MCRA can usually be found at one of the truck stop chains for around $30. The only time I see them at full price is when they first come out. A month later, they're on sale again.

 

Hey sean, figure I'll jump in this one. As of February this year...Millington/Memphis will use atlases a couple days in the classroom. Tony will go over multiple ways to figure mileage and the best ways to read routes and trip plan. There WILL be a test on this after you pass skills! So pay attention! I grew up reading a map to navigate too and still learned a ton! Tony (the instructor)drives a charter bus as a second job, and has years of experience in trucking. I promise you will learn things you didn't know about atlases. I know I did.
I've been told by instructors that mentors will have an atlas on their truck and not to bother getting one until you upgrade to your own truck.

With that said, as of yesterday (2/27) the petro I was in had them on sale for $29.99, so if you want to catch one on sale I'd pick up one and leave it at home until you get your own truck. Unless you're driving to the academy....then you can probably bring it and take it home before road training.

 

When I trained students who had been hired by my company and had already graduated trucking school I would shake their hand introduce myself and then ask them to take a simple test so I could see what we needed to work on?

The test involved some VERY basic questions...

1.Interstates that run North-South are numbered ...Even numbers or Odd numbers?

2.Interstates running west-east are numbered...even numbers or odd numbers?

3.Starting from west coast to east name all major interstates running North-South?

4.Starting in the southern border to the northern border name all interstates running east-west?

5.What is the difference in a loop or spur into or around a major city and can you tell if the loop/spur goes around the city or into the city by its number?..

6.(handing student a atlas and fuel stop book and paper/pencil even a calculator)
ok..we have a trip across the US that is 2500 miles..Assuming we are full of fuel and our truck/trailer will get 5 miles per gallon,will hold 200 gallons and we want to hold at least 20%fuel in reserve how many fuel stops will we make and where will we be stopping(fuel book)?



You would simply be amazed at the truck driving students who graduated who had NO clue!!..


All of these answers by the way are in your atlas..

 

This is essentially a shorter version of swift's mapping test. Theirs is about 40 questions.

 

You might be surprised at the truck drivers who claim to have years of experience and couldn't answer some f these basic questions?
I have a simple way of testing a super-talkers knowledge by asking a super-talker at a restaurant counter?

Which east-west interstate goes across Nebraska..70 or 80?..What about Kansas?..70 or 80?

amazingly simple question for a driver ,but the super-talkers will quite often get it WRONG.