What did you have to do for your road test? Is the process still the same?

The examiner asked me, if I had a road test in the last 2 years, I said, I took my motorcycle test in the last year, he said, good enough, that will be $8 bucks. That was in 1979. For the next 35 years, I never did take a road test in a truck.

 

I did a road test for Maryland at Glen Bernie DMV and that was a hellhole of a place. Why we drove ALL the way down there from Haven st-northpoint is beyond me. This would be back in 87-88 era.

It is also a singular day, 4 felons in that class with me took me around nosebleed corner and said listen, you know this *&^% you have your Class A and show it to us otherwise violence will have to be applied so you learn better for being so stupid today, savvy?

Not so many words. But the intent was clear. I got the Class A. It was interesting, I was not scared of the stupid tests, examiner or any of that I was evaluating what i will need to do versus 4 at nosebleed corner.

The rest of it was grandfathered. However Arkansas can stick a permit A in my pocket wait two weeks, grab a semi with manual and a full grown up trucker drive to little rock and take the tests and done. Not like the process they apply to people who have never held a CDL in their lifetime.

 

For most states...

1. Pre Trip
2. Backing - straight, offset, 90 degree (alley)
3. Road test

The most difficult part is the pre-trip.

 

If your talking a employment road test with superior they just put you in a truck and you drive a certain route around the area. They just want to make sure you can actually drive. It's nothing to worry about.

 

99% of the its 4 right turns for a few miles. I always giggled at this until one day while on said driving test, my co driver was point out all the spots that he failed people on, and that list was extensive. We had a really good talk about it later on and it opened my eyes to just how many people are thrown through 'training' and really are in no way ready to drive

 

I did mine in Jackson Georgia. The driving portion of the test was about 35 to 40 minutes of driving. I had to do a bit of freeway driving, a bit of city driving, and by law I had to cross at least one active railroad track. All the tracks near the testing facility had gone out of use, so the drive was kinda long. There was also one gotcha turn that the CDL school warned us about. It was a very tight right turn and they would fail you if you hit the curb.