Got Some Basic Road Safety Questions

Hello Paul!

Sometimes it's good to take a little rest from your research. I'm not going to say you need one, but don't wear yourself out with information overload.

I hope you realize how silly it sounds to someone you are hoping will hire you, when you ask them if they consider their automatic trucks a safety hazard. I don't know where you are finding all these truckers you claim to talk to, but my Volvo I-shift automatic transmission takes me down snow covered mountains with amazing results. That job you were applying for is city driving with delivery stops all day. You definitely want an auto shift transmission for that kind of delivery work.

I've never heard of magnetic breaking. I can't help you there. My personal feeling is that you misunderstood what they said, or they were already through having any hope of hiring you. They didn't mention anything about "blinker fluid" did they?

Once an inexperienced wannabe driver starts questioning a prospective employer about their automatic trucks possibly being a safety hazard, I imagine the interview was over as far as they were concerned.

For bridge heights we use the Rand McNally Motor Carriers Atlas. You can locate and avoid low bridges through careful trip planning and being aware of your surroundings. Almost all bridges are clearly marked. We know how tall we are because we've confirmed it with a tape measure. Professionals don't hit low bridges.

the CDL book teaches me that if I got a vehicle on the highway that cuts infront of me that my response should be to “honk my horn and follow closely behind the vehicle”

That sounds strange. What state is this? I honestly think you are misunderstanding something. Is it possible that was a sample test question? Sometimes the questions are worded awkwardly to see if you're paying attention. I'd love you to snap a photo of that and show us where it says this.

Are you using our free High Road CDL Training Program? You really need to try it. There's no better way to prep yourself.

Okay, now read that material carefully.

It's just as I said.

They are asking you "Which of these actions should you NOT take?

The proper answer is honk your horn and stay close behind the car.

You spent a lot of time assuring me that you actually were talking to truckers. That's great! I tried to do the same thing when I was wanting to start this career. Now that I've driven over a million miles, I find truck driver chit chat has to be taken carefully. Most of it is nonsense.

See, if a truck driver tells me he feels an automatic transmission is dangerous, I immediately want to know has he ever driven one, and for how long. Most of the time they have no experience with them.

About the magnetic braking thing I guess I should have worded it more precisely. My exact words to the recruiter and driving instructor who was both interviewing me was, "As someone who's just starting to learn about semi trucks, do you think it is safer to do mountain driving with a stick shift or automatic?" Those were my exact words to them. They told me it doesn't really matter, and told me about how magnets are now being used in trucks.

I worded the question that way because I've been told by multiple truckers I met at truck stops that they feel safer going down a mountain fully loaded with a stick shift than with an automatic. This came from multiple truckers from multiple states, as I deliver amazon packages in 4 different states (Penn, WV, VA and MD) They would never elaborate on why. But when you have small talk with strangers you never know if someone is talking out of their rear end or if there is some actual logic behind what they are saying. Since I have no experience in their trade, I cannot tell. So I felt it was a good question to ask.

Here is a link to what the instructor at DOT foods transportation may have been talking to me about. I actually found this about an hour ago googling "magnetic breaking in semi trucks". This lines up with what he told me: https://www.apexmagnets.com/news-how-tos/magnets-brakes-bringing-18-wheelers-stop/?srsltid=AfmBOorD2xH_qLVIDjfks8ulxJxQ6eWhk1H1cBAVkmJ-JPH6yNjY1BLi

So he wasn't pulling a 'blinker fluid' type of sarcastic joke with me. In fact the driving instructor was very professional and repeatedly encouraged me to ask him questions througout the interview and told me he wants students who asks a lot of questions. He even pointed out that he likes the questions I asked him.

It was in the interview that they told me that I am required to have a class-A permit before getting hired, and that they ONLY help me get a CDL. So I apologized to them about my unpreparedness and told them the ONLY reason I bothered applying in the first place was because of what the recruiter from Illinois told me. When I told them this, they understood and said that when I get my class-A I can re-apply in 90 days and that was the end of the interview.

That was the moment that I as a 'wanabe' trucker learned to not trust trucking recruiters haha.

Literally the reason they didn't hire me was because I didn't have a permit...and they thought I wouldn't be able to get my permit quickly enough before their trucking class started because I have to mail in paperwork to a DMV in Charelston, WV, and wait up to 2 weeks for a test card to come in the mail...and their trucking class was scheduled to start 3 weeks from the interview...plus the two other people they interviewed had their permits before the interview.

As far as "where I'm finding all these truckers that I 'claim' to be talking to", as an Amazon delivery driver who's distribution center is in Hagerstown, MD, I deliver packages to four different states and average 300'ish miles in one day. As part of my job, I'm required to fill up my delivery van at a gas station on the way back to the shop after my last delivery.

There are three different truck stops that I stop at depending on which way I'm coming back to Hagerstown, MD. I typically use one of my two 15 minute breaks after I gas up my delivery van to smoke a couple cigarettes and to stretch my legs. That's where/when I end up always meeting a trucker who is also taking a break from driving. One truck stop is a Sheets, the second is a Rutters and the third one is a Flying-J truck stop. It's because of interacting with those truckers I even developed an interest in the trucking trade to begin with...well, that and occasionally being a helper with a DOT amazon boxtruck driver who is paying his way through trucking school to eventually get into the trucking trade as my job hires both van drivers and DOT box truck drivers.

Hope that clears things up. :)

Oh and here are pictures of the weird thing I mentioned about what to do when someone pulls in front of me:

[url=https://ibb.co/1scvQRc][img]https://i.ibb.co/6vQnwDQ/111111.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://ibb.co/t3YyywR][img]https://i.ibb.co/6ND66cQ/222222.jpg[/img][/url]

I am probably misunderstanding something. The multiple choice thing you see is a screenshot of a CDL prep app that a trucker introduced me to that greatly helped me prepare for the written test. I actually encountered that exact same question and list of multiple choice answers when I did my CDL Permit test at the DMV. You'd think that "slow down and prevent a crash" would be the right answer but it isn't. Not on the CDL prep app and not on the actual CDL test I took at the DMV.

Oh and here are pictures of the weird thing I mentioned about what to do when someone pulls in front of me:

[url=https://ibb.co/1scvQRc][img]https://i.ibb.co/6vQnwDQ/111111.jpg[/img][/url]

[url=https://ibb.co/t3YyywR][img]https://i.ibb.co/6ND66cQ/222222.jpg[/img][/url]

I am probably misunderstanding something. The multiple choice thing you see is a screenshot of a CDL prep app that a trucker introduced me to that greatly helped me prepare for the written test. I actually encountered that exact same question and list of multiple choice answers when I did my CDL Permit test at the DMV. You'd think that "slow down and prevent a crash" would be the right answer but it isn't. Not on the CDL prep app and not on the actual CDL test I took at the DMV.

if those links don't work here is another attempt for me to share the images:

Okay, now read that material carefully.

It's just as I said.

They are asking you "Which of these actions should you NOT take?

The proper answer is honk your horn and stay close behind the car.

You spent a lot of time assuring me that you actually were talking to truckers. That's great! I tried to do the same thing when I was wanting to start this career. Now that I've driven over a million miles, I find truck driver chit chat has to be taken carefully. Most of it is nonsense.

See, if a truck driver tells me he feels an automatic transmission is dangerous, I immediately want to know has he ever driven one, and for how long. Most of the time they have no experience with them.

LMAO!!!! wow I can't unsee it now. I literally got that question right on the test for all the wrong reasons. That's funny AF.

Maybe you're right and I do need to take a break. I am probably overdosing on all information that I've been soaking up.

Well, I guess the whole automatic vs manual transmission thing must be the equivalent to the whole "lincoln VS miller" debate I heard throughout the 13 years I was a welder. I equally used both and they're both equally good. Both have their quirks but you can weld anything with either brand with enough practice. The proof is in the fact that whenever you see any product fabricated by Caterpillar, those bulldozers and excavators are fabricated using lincoln machines and whenever you see pictures of the sections of the SpaceX starships in the news in their shipyard in Texas, the welders there are using millers (long story on how i know that)

Most welders I worked with who reach that '20yrs in experience mark' are the ones I usually worked under the table when I was a welder, because they become so confident in their abilities that they stop learning...and the quality of their work starts to decline as a result. I guess it's the same in any trade you get into.

No.. automatics are indeed unsafe. When you turn the jakes on, a warning on the dash gives you 10 seconds until implosion. Eject or die.

Paul, the thing is to stick to 1 main way learning/studying for those tests. Be it here (best option) or something else. My class mate was listening to everyone telling him"oh use this app, that app", etc. He was overloading his brain with way too much useless info doing so. I stayed up 2 nights in the cafeteria "trying" to help him get it. Problem was he wasn't American, he was from El Salvador, and did have kind of a learning disability.....But he had grew up in the US.

I got thru training, out with a trainer, he was behind in school "trying to pass" He literally took 3 tries til he finally got his permit / license... We drove together for like a month, well I drove, he didn't drive much because he never slept!!.....Finally, I got fed up and kicked him out of the truck @ our terminal , to find him someone else to co-drive with! lol

Breathe and relax, when it all clicks for you, you will be thinking "wow all that mental stress was for nothing!"

No.. automatics are indeed unsafe. When you turn the jakes on, a warning on the dash gives you 10 seconds until implosion. Eject or die.

No.. automatics are indeed unsafe. When you turn the jakes on, a warning on the dash gives you 10 seconds until implosion. Eject or die.

ROFL