Trainer's side of things.

That is it in a nutshell...distilled into one short sentence.

 

According to my wife I snore like a chainsaw, nothing I can do about it, would it be out of line to buy my trainer a gift of ear plugs/noise cancelling headphones?

I presume when you're first training you're both on the same sleeping/driving schedule operating like a solo? Later, as trust and skills grow do you start operating as a team?

 

my 2nd night i was driving and trainer was sleeping. but i did have experience as i was restarting. so he didn't care as long as he was asleep. when he was awake radio was off and we were talking truck.

 

I get to see both points of view as a former trainer and soon to be "new" of sorts, trainee LOL

My rules on my truck as a trainer...

1. Scratch my truck and I will scratch the look off your face..
2. Don't touch the cb..listen to it..don't touch it
3. Keep the music at low volume
4. If I was asleep in the sleeper leave the heat/ac alone..you could shut the fan off for the front but if I got hot or froze there would be hell to pay
5..the bank thing...agreed...I'm not a bank, nor am I your mom or pop..
6. Your time is your time..but if you were on duty or driving..your time was my time to teach..you'd better pay attention and learn
7. I'll be the judge of when you drive without me sitting in the passenger seat
8. Get yourself in a situation where you have to hit the brakes so hard I fall out of the bunk and you just got yourself a bus ticket to the nearest terminal...
9. I don't care how fast the speed limit is..you won't be going that fast at first..get used to it.

I was an ####### at first..but as my trainees gained my trust I got nicer..one of em (a great, stand up guy and natural driver) even got to have thanksgiving with my family and a couple of days off. He didn't get paid for those two days, but he appreciated the nice warm bed that wasn't moving..free laundry and showers..and my (now ex)..wife's cooking..he gained 8 lbs (so he said) LOL.there were other trainees I had I slept with a knife under my pillow because I was worried they'd murder me in my sleep..

Petey

 

Beings your in the sleeper you probably wouldn't know if he got himself into a situation or if he just saved your bacon by hitting breaks and tossing you from the bunk.......just sayin

 

First off I think trainers are VERY important for the new driver. That being said, some of the things I'm reading here seem a little harsh. Don't touch my radio or cb ? Are you serious ? Would you rather have a new driver listen to your desired music and fall asleep ? Or listen to their music and stay alert ? Now I'm not saying blast the dang radio , I too enjoy country music and talk radio but geez. And as far as the cb, I think if its used to "communicate" I don't see why you would not want them to touch it ? I will be going with a trainer around mid april and I sure hope he or she has more of a "training" mind set rather than "don't touch anything" or you will be walking home ! I think if people irritate you that much than maybe being a trainer is NOT for you. Sorry if I have offended anyone in this post, but newbie drivers are NOT children at least I would hope not.

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You are a rookie..so as of yet..you don't realize that some driers put hundreds of dollars into their cb setups..second..just lke talking on a cell phone can be dangerous while driving so can talking on a cb..therefor a student with little to no experience driving definitely shouldn't be talking on it..period..

Petey

 

What you say makes sense and I'm down with it ...BUT, I get his point too. This whole " talk to rookies like they are children" nonsense isn't cool. From what I've seen, more than half of us are mature folks, often starting a second career.

It's been a sore point in my training as well. I've had to bite my tongue several times ( and several times I haven't) when I thought I was being talked down too just because I'm not very good at driving a truck...yet.

I AM very good at other things that require just as much skill if not more. The ladies tell me I'm very good at giving them the best 18 seconds of their life...for example.

 

Agreed, I am a rookie. Point still remains the same, there is a reason for the cb being in a truck, I'm not saying they should be on it bs`n with people at all. There are times when a cb is useful and to say "if you touch my cb your going home" is a little harsh. I understand that some people are idiots and should never be alowed behind the wheel of a car let alone a truck ! Being a "rookie" I've been reading this forum a lot trying to get as much info as I can. And I always see the same bs. Trainers should be there to "train" or to "teach" someone. Seems like there all more worried about the trainee`s touching something the trainer don't want them too.

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I would say it to get their attention..and I would follow through with it..it would be on so they could hear but they were not to be on the mic in any way shape or form or they were off my truck..

If they were talking, they were paying less attention to what was going on around them..

Tests done with brain scan equipment shows that driving SAFELY requires 100% of the brains activity..

By adding in a conversation either by phone or cb you cut that down drastically..

This can be proven..simply and easily and as you go through safety trainng with your company, if they teach the smith system of defensive driving, you will see first hand and understand

A driver who is not in any other way distracted whose sole focus is on driving can recall signs, clohes that people are wearing, and fine details of the route he just came across (about 2 blocks worth of information)

People on cells in most cases can't remember what the speed limit sign said on one of the blocks, generally are speeding without realizing it, and can't remember if there were pedestrians or not..

The reason is simple..the human eye to brain connection was only designed to transfer and process at the speed that a human can run on foot..which is about 6 mph..the amount of your brain power that has to be used to keep up with the information you are confronted with goes up exponentially the faster you go..

AT 30 mph..your brain is maxed..faster than that..you still automatically dismiss some things..

Drive down the highway and try to remember what mile marker you are at sometimes..then do it another day with distractions in the car..kids, radio, phone..if you succeed...then try to remember the colors of the cars you passed in the last half mile during that same trip..you won't

so no..never will any traine on my truck be allowed to be on the mic of any cb in my truck..nor will they be on their cell phones..PERIOD

Petey