so should I report my past employer/trainer?

That's gotta be one of the BEST rants I've read in a long time, and it's spot on! Kinda scary how folks go through life without paying attention to things like WHERE THEY ARE and WHERE THEY ARE GOING. It's not just the youngsters, either. Some of the worst have been folks older than I.

 

I don't think it should take months to train someone to drive a truck, my only problem with a lot of companies is? Student drivers with exactly 0 hours behind the wheel, other than school time, sent out with a so called trainer, and their run like a team driver from the get go, trainer in the bunk sleeping while student driving, and my personal opinion, if their going to run like teams, the trainer should be doing the night driving, not the student just learning to drive, at least the 1st couple of weeks should be ran like a solo driver, then work into a team situation

 

First I actually enjoy training, it gives me somebody to make coffee and run for breakfast. No I actually do like to train, but there are always exceptions to every rule, I have had drivers that I was comfortable with there judgement skills right away, in a week we were running like a team, but I also have had other that after 6 weeks I turned them back in, And you might be surprised I did not right them up as failing, wrote my self up as failing to be able to teach or unable to find a communications channel they understood. And requested another driver to train them.

But I take it personal and serious, If I sign off on someone and they go out and kill someone, and it was something I failed to teach them then thats on me. When you make a commitment to teach you need to really think it thru.

We get these young bucks (as my Dad called them) wandring thru with almost a year and wanting to train, makes me wonder....How can you train and teach what you do not know.

In any case the clooege called me and wanted me to start on Monday, so I ask them if they had seats and seatbelts installed into the trucks, they told me they were not going to, So much to there surpirse I turned them down, and explained how can a student take you serious when you are picking and choosing which safety laws to violate, I then also dropped a dime and called CHP.

So I guess its back in the saddle again...

 

Maverick trucking has your trainer sitting passenger the whole time you are driving. they are a good company.

 

if i was personally TRAINING someone, you darn tootin they would be my co-driver

i dont understand why a trainer would just have jethro drive around NO WHERE

he would be driving to the shipper, to the reciever, thru the scales, etc

unless you have free fuel and time to just train in some wide, uncharted land

 

When I trained with Crete my trainer sat next to me the whole time. Then he drove some. When he was driving I was so worn out that I usually fell asleep and would go to the bunk and sleep. Figures out after training he only used me for miles. Didnt train me to check tire air pressure or how to trip plan. I knew map reading before I got there. Alot of stuff with hooking up to trailers, load securement, sliding tandems, I had to learn myself, but by time I was kn my own I was able to drive day or night over 14 hour stretch.

 

if you can not check tire pressure, then you shouldn't even consider having a cdl.

When did we change the HOS to 14 hours of drive time??

 

McElroy is the same way. Trainer usually starts his clock within the first 2 hrs after student and only drives aa necessary to cover last few miles to shipper or cosignee if student is out of time and they sleep on the same cycles.

 

Ridgeline....I know how to check it now. Knew how to do the front tires on each axle not the rear ones till i saw another driver do it. Also, I meant to say that I drove 11 hours during the 14 bour span I was on duty. Thanks for making me correct myself. I appreciate it. Im sure you never made a mistake before.

 

Uh a valve stem is a valve stem. Doesn't matter if its on a bicycle or a tractor they all work the same.