Who says I have to go to driving school?

An effective date hasn't been announced and even then a certificate won't be required until 3 years after the effective date .

http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=18890

 

Yup... still can do on-the-job training, but it's gonna change. Schools just get you past the CDL test, and weed-out the total incompetents. They still need to set some kind of standard for an apprenticeship.

 

Call swift!

I had my cdl before I was 21 studied and passed written test. It took me two times to pass road test as I failed pertrip portion the first time. Anyway I am third generation driver so I have spent a lot of time in and around trucks my father taught me young for a backup career which as it turned out I needed to take advantage of. Three yesew ago swift was going to hire me with my cdl a and no class a experince that was verifiable and no schooling. I did not choose this route all they were gonna do was to put me with a trainer for three weeks. I instead went to four week cdl school with my wife and learned a lot.

 

I wasn't implying I didn't learn a lot in school, because I did, after all I was very green. I believe I did well on the written test because I studied a lot before and during school. I know myself, I needed the field training at school, because I would not of been able to pass the skills and road test with only a few trips around the block. My road test was 17.3 miles, and there were some tricky turns on the route, not to mention the shifting while going up or down a hill. The alley dock backing for the skills test would not of come naturally, so again, I needed the school.
I am also glad that I got to learn to couple and uncouple and slide the tandems at school because it took a couple days for my trainer to warm up to me, so I am glad I wasn't completely clueless.
My first day with him we had our first stop to load just 3 hours in, it is a tight, tight dock so it is best to slide the tandems. He hadn't really said much in that 3 hours and mostly glanced at me out the corner of his eye. When we got there it was raining hard, he said "Got to slide the tands for this" and started to get out to do it himself. Well, I just said, okay I'll get it and jumped out. He watched me like a hawk the whole time. Atferwards, I get back in the truck and he backs into the dock. Then he looks at me, straight on too, not out of the corner of his eye and asks if I drink coffee, I say yes, he grabs his thermos and pours me a cup and one for him. All he said was "glad to see you don't melt in the rain and ain't worried about breaking a #### nail" Then we sat and drank black coffee together. Anyway, it took him a couple days to warm to me and it took me about 3 to tell him I like cream and sugar in my coffee.
He was a gruff old trucker, but he taught me a lot, stll does, things you can't get from a book or school. I still remember the taste of his strong black coffee too.
My issue isn't wth the schools, it is with the companies that encourage you to be a trainer, or believe you can be, after only 6 months experience.