The road test prior to hire?

It all depends on which company you go to. I know if you are student for USX orientation, they are very lenient on you. A trainer or senior driver gives the road test at USX. Which company did you have in mind?

KH

 

It's different with every carrier . Make sure you do a proper pre-trip . Some will have you hook a trailer up , some will have the trailer already hooked . Best to say what carrier it will be with so drivers with that carrier can help you .
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regu.../fmcsrruletext.aspx?chunkkey=09016334800238b4

 

Mr. Kinghunter is right, it all depends on what company you are going to be hired at. For me I gave the road test alot different from the state except the pre-trip and post-trip inspections. I want to see how you handle the truck in traffic and out on the road. Of course you must follow all the rules of the road and I don't want to see any speeding anywhere. At times I've had to explain that we pay by the hour and the company wants you to follow the speed limit so there's no need to speed.

I want to know if you can double clulch, progressive shift, and after a little while in the truck I want to see if you know what gear to be in at any given time. I'd like to see how you pull a grade and especially how you go down the grade. I want to see defensive driving and how you handle the idiots out on the road.

What I don't want to see is downshifting every gear when stopping or running the engine up against the peg ( the governor) when shifting. We are always loaded up to the max with gasoline and there's one place I take the new driver to see if he or she can explain what to do at this railroad crossing that is controlled by a signal light. There's more but those are the basics that I used before we even hire a driver. After the road test and if the driver is hired the training really starts.

You most likely will not have to do all that especially the shifting part. The tester should know that you are new and give you a little slack. That's where my company is different. We hire drivers that should already know all this. Just watch your rules of the road, keep a level head, and take your time. Don't worry if you miss a gear, just be ready to recover. Make safety your number priority and do what you did for the state and you should be ok. Let us know how you do.

 

My road test at Gordon Trucking consisted of making a left turn in their yard to set up for a straight line back in to a dock, then running up the freeway about 2-3 miles then back to the yard, all the while having to listen to the guy doing the road tests complain about how much he hated Mexicans.....That was at corporate in Pacific, Wa.

 

My company just had us drive down the road about a mile. They just wanted to make sure we could shift halfway decent and not hit anything. They are a training company so they weren't expecting much.

 

Forgot to say...with US Xpress you don't even have to worry about how to shift...

 

I found this thread just in time. Tomorrow, I have an interview for a position doing local deliveries and one of the parts of the interview is a road test. Now I should mention that i haven't even stepped foot inside a tractor in almost six months so I'm more than slightly nervous about the test. That being said, they know my experience (or lack thereof), and they also know that I haven't done any driving in the last six months, so i know they are not expecting a seasoned pro.

I do have a couple of quick questions though, since I've never really had an interview with a trucking company before, how should I dress for the interview? (I'm assuming dress pants and shirt are out since ill be driving).

Although I vaguely remember how to shift and turn, I don't recall exactly what I should do when I am stopped on an uphill (like a traffic light or something similar). Do I let go on the clutch to its grabbing point while at the same time keep my foot on the gas?