Two weeks to learn to drive

What school in Vegas you going too?

 

Every CDL school in every state does this. 3 to 4 weeks is all it takes to get a class A. The bad thing is that I'd say 99% of what is taught at CDL schools is rubbish, and doesn't apply in the real world. A good example is curb checks. Hop a curb during the road test, and you will fail it. Out in the real world, you will hop a curb virtually every day. Even with my single axle daycab and a 48' trailer, I hop curbs on a regular basis.

 

Well I did it in 12 days from writing the check to having my CDL and going to my first job so it can be done.

 

Sounds like the world of High Times to me. If that is your "real world" I would suggest a eye doctor or a 12 step program or at least a look in the mirror, if you curb your trailer on a regular basis.

 

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

Lived in Laughlin for a few years,had a couple friends go there,you well do fine.

 

Sorry, but not everyone spends all day on 4 lane major highways. If you can drive my route with a 53' trailer and a sleeper birth during rush hour without any curb checks, I'll buy you a beer. Mind you, most of my routing is on truck restricted roads.

 

I think the problem is right in your thread title. You don't have two weeks to learn to drive. You have two weeks to learn to pass the road test. This is the misconception that a lot of drivers (and quite a few instructors) have. They think the object of driving school is to learn how to drive. Its not. Learning to drive takes far too long and no school could make a profit if they tried to do it that way. School teaches you how to pass the road test and that's about it. And despite what you may think, being able to pass a simple road test is not the same as knowing how to drive. At least not by any reasonable definition of the term.


If you're lucky, your school will also give you a solid foundation in the basics of everything related to driving which goes above and beyond the minimum required for the test. But only if you're lucky and even then, that's mostly classroom stuff. Running the truck is far too expensive to allow the students enough time to drive until they are truly comfortable with it. The best the schools hope for is being able to hit the specific things they look for on the test at least somewhat safely. It then becomes your job to learn the rest on your own without killing anyone or bending anything along the way.

Which is to say that if you're feeling nervous and underprepared, there is a good reason for it and its normal and to be expected. Take your time, use your mirrors and you'll do fine.

 

I would think you have two weeks to obtain your "license to learn". It will be a while before you are a "driver" as referred to on this site.