Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting a new post up. Thursday and Friday of last week were really good days for me. I’m really starting to feel much more confident in my driving skills and the rest of my class is improving greatly as well. It’s really fun to see how quickly we are improving! Although friday was a bit of a mixed bag as far as my driving was concerned.
On Thursday, I received another pre-hire! I’m continuing to apply to as many places as I can. I already have a pre-hire from my first choice company, but I want to continue getting pre-hires. Since the economy is bad, it’s nice to have some backup companies in case my first choice doesn’t work out for whatever reason. I’m not too interested in the last company I got a pre-hire from, but it’s nice to have it as insurance.
Thursday started off with more on pre-trip quizzing. They wanted us to study the trailer brakes section and get it down pat. I did very well on it and studied it pretty hard. One of the toughest tests we have with the Secretary of State is our pre-trip knowledge. You must have a general knowledge of the mechanics on a truck so you can safely identify problems when checking the truck out before you drive. I’m not too mechanically inclined, so it’s a bit of a challenge for me. But I’m just taking it one step at a time and really studying as best as I can.
After our pre-trip, it was time to hit the road. I drove extremely well! We went on all the roads the Secretary of State will take us on for our driving test and my instructor said I would have passed if it were an actual test. The butterflies are still there, but driving is becoming much more enjoyable. The more I relax, the better I seem to do.
I also went into the yard for a bit so I could go on the obstacle course. I’m getting better! My first time around on Thursday I would have failed the test by 1 point, mostly due to my 45 degree backing. I scored a lot of points because I didn’t stop at the right spot (points are bad). But my second time around I would have passed with a few points to spare. I had to do a pull-up (pull forward and reposition) on my 45 degree back but I still would have passed. We will be allowed one pull-up on the exam.
On Friday, they really hammered us hard on the pre-trip stuff. After doing the pre-trip, I felt pretty bad because none of us did a real good job on it and my instructor seemed pretty dissapointed. It’s really hard to learn all of this. They seem to want us to know everything overnight and it’s just not possible. So that kind of sucked, but it’s something I can improve on as long as I put in the study time.
We took a nice little “road trip” where I got to drive for about 45 minutes. This was awesome and really got me more comfortable behind the wheel. We went on some very busy roads, lane changes, merging, higher speeds, and dealt with intersections I’ve never had to navigate yet. On one left turn, there was a car way out in the intersection so I had to swing really wide to miss him. My instructor said I handled it perfectly!
Unfortunately, the last run I had on Friday wasn’t so great. My first mistake occurred on my first right turn pulling out of the school parking lot. Traffic was clear in both directions, so I pulled out into the oncoming lane so I could swing the trailer wide. Well, a speeding vehicle came over a hill and was coming towards us at a quick rate, so I went back into my lane as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this made the trailer ride up on the gravel shoulder. My instructor told me that would be an immediate fail if this were an actual road test. I went to shift into the next gear and missed it. I had trouble getting it into gear again after that and started holding up traffic behind me, which would also be an automatic fail for obstructing traffic. I was real flustered at that point.
My instructor pointed out that if I make a mistake, I need to forget about it right away. If you dwell on it for too long, then more mistakes will follow. That’s exactly what happened. This effected the entire rest of my trip. I was grinding some gears, forgetting to switch the shift selector from low to high gear and vice versa, and overall a very poor performance. It really sucked ending my last trip on the road on that note going into the weekend. I told my instructor I want to go with him on Monday first thing so I can redeem myself. I had so many great trips in a row before that. It killed me to screw that up so bad. It wasn’t a horrible trip and is still a vast improvement from my first couple days of driving, but it was still pretty dissapointing.
Please show TruckingTruth some luv now people! :-)
Give this page a +1:
Find More At TruckingTruth:
Hey, why don't ya head on over to our facebook page and 'like us' to get updates on our latest content, ask us questions, and meet others that are new to trucking? We highly recommend it :-) |
Hey, Brett, don’t let it get you down. We all have bad days. But, yes, when you screw up and the instructor brings it to your attention, it makes you feel hopeless. Just learn from the mistake and act as if it never happened, don’t let it get to you. You’re doing fine and I’m anxiously awaiting your next post!
Thanks for the kind words Tumbleweed! I just got back from a great day. Absolutely perfect. So I’ll get my new post up so you can read all about it!
Another great post. Yes to pass that test we need to show that we know everything. Now that you know that you just do not get in a semi and hook up to a trailer and go down the road, you do have more respect for those who already do the job. Our government considers this a UNSKILLED JOB, which means they think anyone can hope in that truck and away they go. Scary isn’t it. I have always had tons of respect for truckers but when I had to go thru what you are doing, my respect grew larger. I had no clue and neither does the public. Don’t worry about those “off” days as we all have them. Great job truckermike!
does any one know where I can get pre-hire letters for cdl training so I can get financial help .