TRAINING... How long does it really take ????

Nope,you learn something new everyday.

 

44 years of 4-wheeler experience = 0 truck driving experience.

Not trying to insult or discourage you but you need to put that out of your mind right now. Doesn't matter how long you've driven a car, learning to drive a rig is like learning to walk all over again.

In fact the more car driving experience you have, the more bad habits you have to break. When I went through cdl school we had an older gentleman who was 62 and it took him 2 additional weeks of training just to get his cdl. He said to me that it was hard for him since he had so many bad habits.
That being said some people do learn at a faster rate but the key is to go into it with the mindset that you know absolutely nothing about the job, then listen to everything you are taught and you will learn very quickly.

If you go into it thinking you know something it makes it harder to learn. Tell yourself you know nothing and you will be more open to learn everything.

 

Oh and to answer your question, most of the training for cdl school and on the road training after you get your license seem to be appropriately set as far as length of training. At first it may seem like a long time but it is a skilled trade that you are learning so the time will go by fast and when you're solo you might find yourself wishing it was longer.

I felt ready to go solo after 2 weeks with my mentor and he agreed with me. I don't think I learned that much more the last 3 weeks of training as I did the first 2 weeks of solo, but I'm a hands on learner and sometimes I have to learn things the hard way with no one to fall back on when I mess up.

 

First thing first: as others have said you need to get the "I've been driving for 44 years" idea out of your head. You have the same knowledge of tractor trailer driving as the 21 year old does, but you have a lot of habits that will require "unlearning". Note I didn't say BAD HABITS, just habits. Every time I get in my POV I have to remind myself I'm driving a little 4 wheeled vehicle. I don't need two lanes to make a turn, I can accelerate to 30 mph in under 30 minutes, I don't have the sight/visibility I do in my truck, etc. Some of the hardest weeks I've had as a over the road trainer is with people from the Baby Boomer Generation. They assume that because they've been around the block a few times that they know things. They assume because I'm 32, without a wife and kids, that I know nothing.

"Training" in the sense of "time it takes to become proficient at the tasks of OTR driving" is very individualized. It will generally take between 3 weeks and 3 months for things to "click" and to become reasonably comfortable with doing the job with a minimum of mistakes. Personally I lean towards the Watkins Shepard, Schneider, or Roehl model of shorter "official training" time frames provided the new driver is given a framework of support during those first three months. All my students have my cell and I will always do what I can to help them out. I am against the 3-6 months on the road with a trainer where the majority of the time the new driver is running as a team.

I went to a ten week CDL course. By the end of week four I was ready to test for my CDL, and I had my CDL by the end of week 5 (had to wait for the DMV as it was over July 4th). Over the next 5 weeks I spent a lot of time driving around town, riding with other students, and backing. At the end of the 10th week I took a "mock cdl test", with a real tester, on the real course. When I took my real test I got a 6, when I took the mock I got a 2. When I went out with my trainer, my logs were good, my city driving was great, my backing sucked (got psyched out), all my TE really had to teach me was paperwork and real world trip planning (ie when to eat the OOR and run the interstate and when the back roads are better).

Could I have dramaticaly shorted my time in training (both CDL school and with SNI)? Yes. Despite the fact I didn't NEED the extra time, I benefited from it. After 4 years in the industry I'm making pretty darn good money because of the training that I received and my commitment to self improvement.

I will now get off my soap box and return you to your regularly scheduled programing.

 

I've been driving 8 years and I'm still in training. A person can't train another person to drive. They can teach them key fundamentals but it's up to the driver to train him/herself.

 

You have decades of bad habits. Thats all. I just did 6 weeks/240hrs of cdl training and we just learned the basics and I bet at 32 I have more experience hauling stuff around than you do and I felt like a complete dummy when I got behind the wheel of a truck with a 48ft dry van. I now know just enough to be safe on the road and not endanger others as well as myself.

 

I was with a trainer for about 6-7 weeks and thought that was good enough. Although when I was on my own, the third week and got a load somewhere north of I-90 in Minnesota going to L.A. As I was going west of Denver on I-70 through those mountains I thought a couple of more weeks couldn't have hurt lol. It was November so weather wasn't to bad.

 

In reality someone with half a brain, 1 on 1 instruction for 4 days, some luck and common sense and a good ability to handle equipment or motorized vehicles could go from learners permit to hauling freight and maybe go on to years of trouble free trucking.
In the same light, someone could probably learn to fry bar food and be called a "Cook" in the same amount of time, but to be called a chef may take some experience.

 

[QUOTE="Hang - Man";3871816]In reality someone with half a brain, 1 on 1 instruction for 4 days, some luck and common sense and a good ability to handle equipment or motorized vehicles could go from learners permit to hauling freight and maybe go on to years of trouble free trucking.
In the same light, someone could probably learn to fry bar food and be called a "Cook" in the same amount of time, but to be called a chef may take some experience.[/QUOTE]

I promise you there were several guys in my class that would not have learned to drive a truck with 4 days of 1 on 1 training lol. Hell it took them more than 4 days just to half ### learn to alley dock.

 

You have to add up everything up altogether (in my first sentence) for that to happen LOL. leave something out and you got trouble.
FYI: I do remember being in a truck stop and watching a driver trying to back up for over ten minutes or it seemed like it, i pointed it out to another driver who i was talking to at the time.
I must have said something about the backing driver being new and it turns out the driver i was talking to knew the backing driver and stated "he's been driving for ten years" --eye opener!
By the way --i believe the school i went to was 2 weeks long, and i bet i didn't spend a total of 3 hours driving that truck LOL --sure did walk back and forth beside of it for miles (100 yard alley).