Trucking School In A Nutshell!

      Just finished trucking school and received my CDL Class A commercial drivers licence and a nifty certificate from the school. Whoo, what a nerve wracking experience. Completed 177 hours of class, skills and on the road training. Went to a really decent school, Progressive Truck Driving School in Lansing, Illinois. Very good instructors who take time to make sure you are learning. Although sometimes they get frustrated when you just can't get the hang of shifting a manual transmission and are constantly grinding them gears. It could take a while to learn how to drive a 10-speed transmission while learning the double-clutch technique you are required to learn in Illinois.
     
      Most of your time is spent on learning pre-trip inspection which is a trip in itself. You basically have to memorize almost every part of a semi-truck not to mention learning how to test the air brake system. There are (8) separate air test that you need to learn to make sure your air brake system is in good working condition. This is all very crucial to becoming a trucker because you have to do a pre-trip every time before you are going on the road. You have to be able to detect any problems before you drive so you are not driving an unsafe vehicle. You could very easily kill yourself or worse someone else driving an unsafe truck. What if your brakes fail going down a long mountain grade and your pulling 20,000 to 30,000 lbs of freight, now that same weight is pushing you faster and faster down that mountain. It won't be very pretty.



      After you get your driving permit you will start practicing your skills on the course and drive out out on the road. On the driving course you will learn how to back up a truck. Believe me it isn't very easy at first. It takes a while to get used to it. You can't look out the back window like you do in a car, you have to rely on your side view mirrors. Once you can back up preety good you will learn to back up the truck from a 45 degree angle as you would when you are delivering to a store or warehouse. This is when it gets tough. Sometimes because you have to steer the rear to a certain angle you can lose sight of the rear and you may not see rear at all. Eventually you get the hang of it but for some students it can take a while. The road driving isn't to bad because you are always going forword. You will learn how to turn at intersections by giving yourself the extra wide turn you need. These 18 wheelers can be upwards 53 feet long so you can't turn like in a regular car. If you do you could take out a fire hydrant, electical pole or another vehicle. I think the worst is having to look out for the crazy drivers who will pull in front of you or stop suddenly thinking you can stop on a dime



      After you complete the class hours you signed up for it's time to test with the state. The test should take place at the school. The test is made up of (3) parts. Test vary from state to state. This test is for Illinois:  

• Pre-trip - the state tester will ask you to tell him about certain things about the truck like the front wheels, the steering parts, the air lines, rear trailer suspension. He may ask everything on the truck or just a few depending on how pressed for time he is. But you will do the air brake test.
• Skills - (Always drive as slow as possible using your first gear. Why hurry things up and fail the test.) consist of three parts: 1) the pull up, pulling up the truck to a line with set numbers starting at 6 to 0 that will be your score. Pull up slowly to the numbers and stop without going over the yellow line after the zero. If you stop before the numbers or pass the yellow line you will fail. You want to get the lowest score possible. 2) Next is your right turn but first you have to back up the truck from the front stop area to about 200 feet back between two yellow lines without touching them or going over them. If you stop because you are going crooked or touch the lines you will fail. When you have reached the stop point you will proceed to make your right turn. Make your turn so that your trailer right side rear wheels on the passenger side crosses the lowest number without knocking down the orange cone or going over the yellow line. Don't try to get a zero because you may knock down the cone. 3) Now your 45 degree back up. Pull up your truck to the designated spot which will put your truck at a 45 degree angle. Back up and then straighten it until you have backed it to the numbers without going over the yellow lines. They give you one chance to pull up to the start point and redo if you messed up the first back up. They give you a 20 feet pull up to straighten up the truck before the initial back up which I used so I could back up straight. They also give you a second back up at the number line if you need a lower score. In Illinois you will need a score of 11 points to pass.                                                                                             (Warning: If you at anytime touch or go over the yellow lines or knock down a cone you will automatically fail the test. Also always use your 4-way flashers to back up and turn signals or they will add points to your score.)
• Road Driving - They want to see how well you shift and double-clutch and if you can even drive a truck. For me we had a set course that we drove which took about 20 minutes. There will not be anyone to help you if you do not shift right and cannot put the truck in the right gear or get stuck where you have any type of trouble. If you mess up shifting and cannot get it into gear or do somthing like go over a curb you will fail on the spot.

      Now I failed my skills test because I made two very stupid mistakes. I forgot to use my 4-way flashers to back up and my turn signal on my right hand turn. They added points to my score and I went over the 11 required points. So don't make the same mistake I made. I got caught up in getting the points and not going over the yellow lines that I completely forgot the easiest part of the test. You only have to re-test on what you fail and not do everything over again from the start. I passed pre-trip but failed skills so I had to come back next week and start at skills. Unfortunatly if you fail a part you will most likely have to pay the school for more time to practice and to use their truck to re-test. This depends on what you arranged with your school. I met some students who kept failing for something or the other and it cost them a lot of money before the finally passed.

      Well I hope this helps some first time students or anyone thinking of starting trucking school. I will be starting with Schneider Int. in Jan 2013. and will blog on my 3 week orentation there. Hope it goes well.