Totally New To Trucking. Worried About Stuff
Topic 28099 | Page 1
First off we always recommend Paid CDL Training Programs. In most cases these companies will run your licence before accepting you into their program.
You have two reckless driving tickets, several accidents and a possible red light ticket. Plus you said
I've gone through lights thousands of times my brain immediately forgot about it.
, to me all of this says you should not be driving an 80,000 pound death machine. You may be wasting your money with that school. I would suggest you look through some of these.
- Article: Understanding Pre-Hire Letters: The What, Why, And How Of This Important Step
- Trucker's Wiki: "Pre-Hire Letters"
- Forum Topics Tagged "CDL Pre-Hire Letters"
- Truck Driver's Career Guide
- Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
- High Road CDL Training Program
- CDL Practice Tests
Good luck.
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.
Pre-hire:
What Exactly Is A Pre-Hire Letter?
Pre-hire letters are acceptance letters from trucking companies to students, or even potential students, to verify placement. The trucking companies are saying in writing that the student, or potential student, appears to meet the company's minimum hiring requirements and is welcome to attend their orientation at the company’s expense once he or she graduates from truck driving school and has their CDL in hand.
We have an excellent article that will help you Understand The Pre-Hire Process.
A Pre-Hire Letter Is Not A Guarantee Of Employment
The people that receive a pre-hire letter are people who meet the company's minimum hiring requirements, but it is not an employment contract. It is an invitation to orientation, and the orientation itself is a prerequisite to employment.
During the orientation you will get a physical, drug screen, and background check done. These and other qualifications must be met before someone in orientation is officially hired.
Definitely need to listen big Scott and the other vets of this site. You need to only go to a company sponsored training program. A lot of private schools will tell you anything to get your money.
We had red light cameras for a time in North Carolina, and the citations had no bearing on one’s license or insurance. It was the equivalent to a parking ticket. Idk about your state.
Company Sponsored Training:
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
Just out of curiosity, you said, "I'm pretty sure I've been in a few fender benders..." Call me crazy but I'm thinking being in an accident is definitely something I'd remember. You will need dates, times, location, description of how it occurred, acceptance of fault if indeed it was your fault. So my recommendation to you is to go to your local DMV & pay for an abstract of your driving record. Whatever company that will consider you for their training program will ask for it but some won't go as far back as 2014. Read their questionnaire carefully but only give your answer for the specific dates THEY REQUEST. Dont volunteer anything else.
Your driving record is only one factor they consider & yours isn't too bad. Your dismissive attitude about taking responsibility however is something you might want to address with yourself. It's a reality check about what you call an "adventure". This isn't a career anyone should take lightly. Many that have are sitting in jail for killing individuals & entire families with these 80,000 lbs of metal & whatever loads are being hauled.
When I was at Knight, they played the 911 call of the trucker himself talking to the operator in tears as the victim was trapped in their vehicle & was burned alive. Why? Because the trucker made a u-turn & caused that accident. Also, a rookie was going down Vail Pass & didnt know how to work his Jake brakes, overheated them which caused them to fail. He plowed into some vehicles at the bottom & killed a bunch of people. Again he went to jail.
Just trying to stress the gravity of one mistake behind the wheel of these rigs. Plus, I'll finish with this, while your driving record is a factor, many companies are very strict about work history. When. I first applied to Prime, they almost didn't hire me cause I was missing pay stubs for 2 months. It all got cleared up when I sent the copies to HR but just be very diligent now, use those links Big Scott posted, answer the questions honestly but dont volunteer information that isn't asked of you. Good luck.
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.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.New Reply:
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Hello. I am starting CDL school soon and had a question about my driving record. The people at the school seem to think I'm probably fine.
Last known incidents:
1. Possible red light camera ticket a few weeks ago. I am basically being paranoid with this one since I have no idea. I just went through the light and since I've gone through lights thousands of times my brain immediately forgot about it. But i noticed the intersection was a red light camera one and when I looked in my rearview mirror I noticed all the cars behind me begin to stop. Thought to myself "oh crap". I called the local people but but they only get the video like three weeks later so it's up in the air. Like I said. Probably being paranoid here but who knows.
2. Speeding ticket for 15 over in 2014. In Louisiana
3. Speeding ticket in 2014, probably 10-15 over. Unknown location. Was traveling cross country, somewhere in the midwest.
That's it for the last ten years I'm pretty sure. I've been in a few fender benders but no citations or anything other than these.
The instructors were saying that isnt really too bad but I'm sure they would say that because... why not say that.
Also. I have a slight color vision deficiency and can only pass those damn number dot tests half the time. I usually get one more wrong than is allowed. But I can clearly and easily differentiate between red, green, amber etc. That's fine right?
Anyways. Not much to ask yet other than me being a little paranoid about driving record stuff. Hope that isn't too bad. I recently got laid off from oil and gas so I'm looking at trucking as my next viable adventure since oil doesn't appear to be coming back anytime soon.
Thanks!
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
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.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.