What could/should I have done?

ive been in this situation in real life, both empty and loaded.

sans the railroad tracks though.

ALOT of shippers and receivers arent fond of having signs up properly. so you theres a break in teh trees and suddenly OMG SIGN!

fully loaded doin 35-40 (because i learned to expect these idiots to hide their warehouses and ####) i can bring her o a halt realitivly quickly all things considered. once stoped i then proceed to figure out how exactly im gonna make my turn. so far i havnt been burned yet in that ive had enough room to make my swing.

if im doing 30-25 and that spur of the moment "turn now!" clutch in, hard on the brake. which i can then roll into the turn and grab a gear while rolling because by the time i go to turn the wheel clutch in hard brake brought me down to at least 15mph or slower, which is what they want you to turn in anyway (low gear 1-5 which is 0-15mph)

 

Yeap. You're absolutely right there, Bob. However, consider how much of the above can be taken to heart by veteran drivers as well. Sometimes 'deadhead' doesn't refer to a driver having an empty wagon...sometimes it refers to a vet driver's spaced-out habits or just plain empty head.

 

Can't argue with that.

 

A little confused.... You were being road tested? Or just being evaluated?
(You mentioned the "five points each" thing.) If this was an actual road test, suffice to say you have a legitimate gripe. But other-wise, yeah instructors put the screws to ya. I've come to accept it as part of their job. As long as they don't put a student in a dangerous situation that is.

Bottom line, if you know you have to turn shortly after the tracks, you need to be in proper gear before you hit 'em. No...?

 

I had an instructor that sounds very similar to this guy. I wont go into a lot of detail about how pathetic he was but I will tel ya what I did to shut him up.

He used to tell me to "brake harder". Now I thought I was braking hard enugh to slow the truck down safely. And considering I never even came close to hitting anything pretty well verified my belief. But yet he insisted. So one day I took his advise....his head bounced off the windshield. Yes I made sure the road behind me was clear and traffic would allow such a stupid manuver. With a nice shiny red gooseeg on his forehead he began asking 'what exactly was that???' After explaining to him that breaking any harder than what I was previously would result in exactly what just happened to be repeated he decided to get off me about that one.

But from it I learned one lesson. Regardles of what a instructor or DMV officer tells you to do they want to know and see one thing. If you cant make the turn safely tell them you will not make the turn. Keep going, explain your reasons and turn arouns to go back. Sometimes they will tell you to do dumb things to make sure you know that you and only you are responsible for the safe operation of that vehicle. Dont heistate to tell them no. Worse case they get mad, but they cant deduct points for you ensuring that you can make a safe turn.

 

If the other instructor thought you had done something wrong it should have been his responsibility to help you learn, correct what he thought was wrong. The fact that he responded the way he did leads me to believe he found fault on the part of his co-worker. Most likely he didnt want to bad mouth a fellow instructor in front of a student. But if he is any good he would have spoken to the boss about it. At any rate I wouldnt worry a lot about it. Some instructors want to try to make you nervous. See how you react under pressure. That gives them an idea of how you may handle yourself in a real life condition. At the school I went too they even told us the better you do the harder we will push you to try and make you nervous. Sadly yes that can include telling you to do things that are not exactly safe. If your school operates the same way it may just mean you are progressing very nicely and they want to give you all the experience they can so you will be a better driver once you hit the streets.

Try not to worry about it. Sounds like you are making good decisions and thinking safety. As long as you do that noone can fault you for it.

Good luck and be safe!