What important skills of truck driving did you learn after your first year of trucking?

But what important skills of truck driving did you learn AFTER your first year? That is the topic of the OP.

 

Anticipation of the next move of the mentally challenged

 

The scary part of your answer would be, how many of these people do we share the roads with on a daily basis?

 

You almost certainly drove a manual transmission semi-truck in your first year of trucking. You've been a member of this message board since 2008. Automatic transmission semi-trucks were either rare or unheard of in 2008. tscottme, respectfully, I'm surprised you did not learn how to float the gears in your first year of trucking. You seem both more intelligent and more knowledgeable about trucking than I am, and I have an IQ of 118. I learned how to float the gears while i was a student in the very first month that I was a trucker.

How do you pass another truck with similar max speed without taking 8 miles?

My trainer at Covenant would go ape poop if you did that and petition his fleet manager to fire you if you did not do everything you could to go maximum speed at all times that it is safe to go maximum speed.

 

I learned in my first week of trucking to never, EVER back up on a public street. There's a HUGE blind spot back there. There could be a car or a motorcyclist back there, and you would never know it....

 

Mind your own business don't worry about what loads the other drivers have, and drivers lie about what they make and almost everything else.

 

Not trying to one up you or anything, but my IQ tested in the 140s. Wonder if that has any bearing(not the kind that needs oil or grease) on the fact that I know enough to look in my mirrors before backing up, I know what flavor most oil is, and I don’t have regular epiphanies?

 

I learned that in my first 570 weeks of trucking.