What exactly are they teaching trainees?

I see 53 footers going down the road with the tandems slid all the way back. Watched a swift take out a light pole making a right turn, and kept going!

 

I'm a fairly recent product of a mega CDL school and trainer program. First off, the CDL school ONLY teaches what is needed to pass the CDL test. The fun begins when you get to a trainer. I was lucky, I had a trainer who had been training for 16 years and did it because he liked to train folks. It wasn't about getting the extra miles. But, the MOST important thing, to me, is the folks needing to learn this stuff really need to take the responsibility to learn this stuff. After my first week with a trainer, I was constantly thinking about what I needed to do and when and what I needed to learn. I knew that soon I would have to do this stuff all by myself and couldn't rely on someone else being there to do it for me or tell me what to do. In example, while with my trainer, we never had to slide his 5th wheel. So, I made him show me how to do it and did it myself to ensure I had a chance to do it if and when I needed. Sliding the 5th wheel just seemed like something I would probably be to do at some point and I knew I needed to be shown how to do. I did get lucky in that we witnessed someone else high hook. Saved me from making that mistake myself. Making sure I don't high hook is just an ingrained part of hooking up to a trailer now. Numerous times I've had to go crank a trailer down so I don't high hook. If I don't feel or barely feel the 5th wheel engage against the trailer plate I get out and look at it.
Anyway, lots of folks complain about schools and trainers not really doing their job, but in my opinion, it is primarily the responsibility of the trainee to learn what they need to. I was constantly running all this through my brain when I was with my trainer because I knew I'd have to know how to do this by myself. And, since I have been solo, I have asked and googled and YouTube when I came across something that was previously missed.

 

Great Attitude. You'll do just fine out here!

 

Yea can't tell you how many times I've saw swift doing that out of one of my regular shippers. Pure laziness

 

I learned more by riding in the log truck with the old man almost every day in summer and the odd Friday we had off from school than I did from the driving school. By the time I was 15 I knew how to throw iron, shift, use diff locks, how to read the bushroads, HoS/logbooks, make roadside fixes to airlines, wiring etc. Basically all driving school did was get me used to driving and shifting in traffic instead of just around the acreage when dad needed the truck moved.

 

As already mentioned by several, CDL school is just test prep, and company trainers are a crap shoot at best. I went through three different trainers at my company, and the third one was the only one that was worth a #### as a teacher, and even then I ended up teaching myself a lot over the following year solo OTR.

A month or so ago I was approached about becoming a trainer, and while I think I’d be a good one, they don’t offer enough extra money to make up for the boredom of riding shotgun and the hassle of sharing my living space. I’ve discovered that I’m more of an introvert than I realized.