Advice From Trainers.

I see posts about bad trainers, so I was wondering for those here have been a trainer what are the worst students you have had, or what are some common mistakes trainees make with you?

I hope to be headed out in the next couple weeks with a trainer so would like to know what to try to avoid.

The trainer I had was telling me about a couple people that he had, that just didnt listen to him, or ignored him when he told them to do something that was in regards to saftey. They are there to teach and help you become a safe driver which i know you know already. But those are a couple if things that he told me he couldnt stand sometimes about students. Figured that may help a bit for you.

I took a survey of trainers on exactly this. The top three responses: They don't swing wide enough, don't read the road signs, and pass weigh stations (because they didn't read the road signs lol). Hope that helps.

The worst scenario I heard from the various trainers I have talked to was a guy who jack knifed a trailer, then said, "Wow, that car cut me off! I wanna run him over." Whether that happened or not, it shows aggressiveness, irresponsibility, and total disrespect for the dangers we cause (need to prevent).

We have a series of really good articles written by a former trainer that will give you some great insights:

Article Category: The Trainer's Viewpoint

As an instructor at Prime I have found that certain students respond and learn differently than others. At the interview I always looked for students that were had a slightly different demeanor then myself.

I've found that students I've had too much in common with to be detrimental to our objective. At the interview if a student agreed with me 100% of the time I usually passed on them. I like students that open up and ask a lot of questions. Others have already touched on the basics that students do. I.E. don't swing wide enough, grind gears etc. These things do not concern me, that's what you came to learn. Of course some take longer than others.

Things that bother me are the things that are harder to change, disrespect, swearing, knowing everything when you know nothing, or invading my personal space. Which on my truck is very little.

The trainer I had was telling me about a couple people that he had, that just didnt listen to him, or ignored him when he told them to do something that was in regards to saftey. They are there to teach and help you become a safe driver which i know you know already. But those are a couple if things that he told me he couldnt stand sometimes about students. Figured that may help a bit for you.

Thanks for the reply! Ill definitely have not problem with safety concerns has last thing I want to do is hurt myself or someone else.

don't read the road signs, and pass weigh stations (because they didn't read the road signs lol). Hope that helps.

In school I noticed I was so focused on shifting and out the windshield that I missed signs. But it improved as I got more comfortable.

Things that bother me are the things that are harder to change, disrespect, swearing, knowing everything when you know nothing, or invading my personal space. Which on my truck is very little.

When I was in CDL school my 4 instructors had over 110 combined years between them so as far as I was concerned I knew less than nothing, wish I could have spent more time with them as the 160 hours goes by fast.

When I trained I was very strict on sign reading. The common habit was no one ever, ever read signs. I would constantly ask "what did that last sign say?" and if they answered me wrong too many times I would make them read every sign loudly to me, including mile markers for 5-30 minutes.

One of my students called me an annoying parrot at the end of the training phase.

(Serious, but humorous tone)

Yes in school there was lots going on you had to concentrate on shifting, you had to clear every intersection and side street by saying road to the left or right clear or not clear, of course watch the road for your signs, and checking your mirrors every 5-7 seconds while the instructor was yell8ng which road to turn on sometimes talking to other students and telling you at the last minute.

The trainer I had was telling me about a couple people that he had, that just didnt listen to him, or ignored him when he told them to do something that was in regards to saftey. They are there to teach and help you become a safe driver which i know you know already. But those are a couple if things that he told me he couldnt stand sometimes about students. Figured that may help a bit for you.

Thanks for the reply! Ill definitely have not problem with safety concerns has last thing I want to do is hurt myself or someone else.

don't read the road signs, and pass weigh stations (because they didn't read the road signs lol). Hope that helps.

In school I noticed I was so focused on shifting and out the windshield that I missed signs. But it improved as I got more comfortable.

Things that bother me are the things that are harder to change, disrespect, swearing, knowing everything when you know nothing, or invading my personal space. Which on my truck is very little.

When I was in CDL school my 4 instructors had over 110 combined years between them so as far as I was concerned I knew less than nothing, wish I could have spent more time with them as the 160 hours goes by fast.

The thing I hated most when I was a trainer, was when students didn't put any effort in, or even worse, put in a lot of effort in avoiding doing things.