Gismo's Journey

Topic 16603 | Page 1

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Gismo's Comment
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So, here we go, been unemployed for over 8 months waiting for the oil and gas industry to get going again, no idea when it's likely to start, so, decided for a career change. Start the CR England course on Sunday 16th October and thought i'd share my journey as others have done.

I've never driven an 18 wheeler before so a significant change for me, no idea how much free time i'll get to update but i'll give it my best shot
Susan D. 's Comment
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Congrats and good luck on your adventure. Please update as you can! School, company training, and those first solo months are very exhausting but wonderful.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Gismo's Comment
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Today i joined a webinar from the National Trucking School where i will be doing my training based in Jacksonville. An excellent service that provided all the info needed to attend the school and how to get there etc and what to expect during the course. All attendee's also dialed in and we were all invited to ask suitable questions or concerns.

I thought this was a great idea.

So, i travel through on Saturday for the course start date on Sunday for the DOT Physical and drug screening

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Gismo's Comment
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Well, can't believe the time has flown in so much. It just felt like yesterday that I was starting and here I am well into week 2 of the course.

First week was entirely the CDL Permit instruction, we had a great instructor, Kirk. Lots and lots of info and homework to hopefully get us all to pass. A great phone app is DMV Genie, invaluable for testing of the questions.

Thankfully I was able to pass the 3 exams first time around, the general knowledge was incredibly more difficult than all the papers I had seen and some others failed the same paper, everyone passed with some failing on the Friday and passing on the Monday.

Now we are in the trucks going round and round the test track in groups of four getting the shifting sorted out. I got it pretty quickly and most everyone followed by the end of the second day.

Wednesday we are actually going on the main roads, will be interesting

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

DMV:

Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles

The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
Gismo's Comment
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Cobwebs in here lol, ah well, diary complete
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