Need Help Finishing CDL - Just Road Test Portion In NY

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Rob T.'s Comment
member avatar

It's difficult to tell from pictures, but you should be easily able to make that turn by hugging the little median on the driver side that forces you to turn, otherwise your idea of the red arrow would work as well if there's not a car sitting there if you need the room but I think hugging the raised median there will allow you to complete the turn. Just remember you need to get back into that far right lane to finish the turn.

Joe E.'s Comment
member avatar

Unfortunately, your plight is not that uncommon. In my neck of the woods (Washington state) there are several truck schools where approximately HALF the students earn their CDL in the first two tries.

With the school I went to they are

You know who has the trucks, the insurance and the ability to help you pass your CDL drive test? Truck schools. Call the schools in your area, explain your situation and see who is willing to help you out. It's not cheap. The going rate for a truck either to get additional practice with or to take the DMV test is $800+ PER DAY! It's up to you to decide if you're close enough to passing that it would make more sense to start over at another school or bite the bullet and pay for a truck.

I did find a school nearby that is willing to help for $750! I will be doing that. Thank you for the advice!

I priced out renting a truck from Ryder and trailer and paying a driver $50 an hour - unknowns were insurance and fuel, but it added up to about the same amount.

I have my own company so Ryder was willing to talk to me. They like experienced businesses doing rentals.

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.

Joe E.'s Comment
member avatar

What about the course completion certificate for the mandated ELDT?

I have one. If I need a specific format I will get it from the school. I believe it is on my record with the DMV already. I never had to produce it myself when testing with the school.

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.

Rob T.'s Comment
member avatar

Fired off that last reply quickly since they just finished loading me.

Here's the street view looking at the problematic turn.

0541590001657965275.jpg

What is it with your test that's causing you to fail? Are you hitting the curb? Getting too many points?

With the turn you shared I don't believe you would need to use oncoming traffics lanes at all. If you take that turn as wide as possible you'll be safe. Keep an eye on your tandems as they round the curve and go wider if you need to. You'll get points if you swing too wide to the point some car tries to squeeze by on the right though so watch your tandems. Other than this turn how is the rest of your test route you have trouble with?

Out of curiosity did your school take you on the route before testing? My school the final week the 4 of us alternated driving the route so we had it down.

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Joe E.'s Comment
member avatar

Fired off that last reply quickly since they just finished loading me.

Here's the street view looking at the problematic turn.

0541590001657965275.jpg

What is it with your test that's causing you to fail? Are you hitting the curb? Getting too many points?

With the turn you shared I don't believe you would need to use oncoming traffics lanes at all. If you take that turn as wide as possible you'll be safe. Keep an eye on your tandems as they round the curve and go wider if you need to. You'll get points if you swing too wide to the point some car tries to squeeze by on the right though so watch your tandems. Other than this turn how is the rest of your test route you have trouble with?

Out of curiosity did your school take you on the route before testing? My school the final week the 4 of us alternated driving the route so we had it down.

The proctor said he has seen people move over all 3 lanes to avoid hitting the curb. I did hug the left line and still hit the curb 3 times.

I really wish my school took us through this route but for some reason it is 1.5 hours away from the school.

The rest of the course is ok. The first right turn is tough because it’s a two lane road and there isn’t a lot of extra pavement to make sure the tandems clear the curb. But I got it ok.

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Truckin Along With Kearse's Comment
member avatar

Hi. There is no reason to need all 3 lanes. My test course uses the same type here, but 2 lanes, not 3. Hug the left white line before the curve as early as possible. The further away from the curb the tandems are before you even enter the curve, the better. Turn slightly into the middle lane watching the mirrors.

Think of it as "dragging the tandems" away from the curb. Then tandems are your pivot point. When they pivot around the curb, you will be safe to come back into the oane. Once u see the tandems are following about a foot away from the curb, you should be able to turn back into the right lane, preventing the tandems for jumping the curb.

Crossing the double solid yellow line into oncoming traffic is an automatic fail in my state.

I was confused by you saying you should have followed the red line cause I teach it to follow the blue that you posted.

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

William D.'s Comment
member avatar

Is that the West Seneca testing route or orchard park one i go to the orchard park one on 8/5 im at NTTS now lol

double-quotes-start.png

Fired off that last reply quickly since they just finished loading me.

Here's the street view looking at the problematic turn.

0541590001657965275.jpg

What is it with your test that's causing you to fail? Are you hitting the curb? Getting too many points?

With the turn you shared I don't believe you would need to use oncoming traffics lanes at all. If you take that turn as wide as possible you'll be safe. Keep an eye on your tandems as they round the curve and go wider if you need to. You'll get points if you swing too wide to the point some car tries to squeeze by on the right though so watch your tandems. Other than this turn how is the rest of your test route you have trouble with?

Out of curiosity did your school take you on the route before testing? My school the final week the 4 of us alternated driving the route so we had it down.

double-quotes-end.png

The proctor said he has seen people move over all 3 lanes to avoid hitting the curb. I did hug the left line and still hit the curb 3 times.

I really wish my school took us through this route but for some reason it is 1.5 hours away from the school.

The rest of the course is ok. The first right turn is tough because it’s a two lane road and there isn’t a lot of extra pavement to make sure the tandems clear the curb. But I got it ok.

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Joe E.'s Comment
member avatar

The red line is just an illustration for pulling left. The blue line was just made by me to try to show how to take the curve. This curve goes well under 90 degrees so I think it does need to drag the tandems away from the curb as you say.

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Joe E.'s Comment
member avatar

West Seneca course.

Joe E.'s Comment
member avatar

Hi. There is no reason to need all 3 lanes. My test course uses the same type here, but 2 lanes, not 3. Hug the left white line before the curve as early as possible. The further away from the curb the tandems are before you even enter the curve, the better. Turn slightly into the middle lane watching the mirrors.

Think of it as "dragging the tandems" away from the curb. Then tandems are your pivot point. When they pivot around the curb, you will be safe to come back into the oane. Once u see the tandems are following about a foot away from the curb, you should be able to turn back into the right lane, preventing the tandems for jumping the curb.

Crossing the double solid yellow line into oncoming traffic is an automatic fail in my state.

I was confused by you saying you should have followed the red line cause I teach it to follow the blue that you posted.

I'm just repeating what the proctor told me. I can see using just the one lane over to the left myself, but he was probably talking about in all of his crazy experiences as a proctor.

Thanks for the tips!

Tandems:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

Tandem:

Tandem Axles

A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

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