Profile For Colleen W.

I've been enrolled at the local community college's CDL class A program for 6 weeks. Next week is the last week and the week after that I'm scheduled for testing at the MVA. Tuesday my instructor called me into his office and told me that he was going to cancel my appointment with the MVA because he didn't think I would pass. He told me that he thought I would be better at driving a straight truck or bus. I agree with him. I never got over my fear of the truck and I am too dangerous in traffic. I've read posts from experienced drivers before I started school that trucking isn't for everyone and now I know what that means. Does anyone know of a site that like this one for class B or bus drivers? I really appreciate the help and advise everyone has given. Thanks.

I guess I am wondering why people want to complicate their already complex decisions by entering a field that is filled with men who will NEVER on earth respect them. I was born female, am female and will stay female. I am not protected class. I am not lesbian. My mature age and gender are not given any special consideration at all by 98% of the male students at trucker school. Why should you or anyone with such an issue with gender identity expect BETTER treatment than those of us born and bred female by openly proclaiming your transgender status? Seems like the only place you would want to be open about it would be on the physical exam in privacy of doctor-patient relationship. All the laws on the books aren't going to change reality of the overwhelming majority of men driving the goods in this country or any other. Just being real with you.

Angi, I don't think anyone here is asking for better treatment. I think the concerned is being treated on equal ground and not discriminated against, however if you're a woman now why tell anyone about who you were in the past. Just because I've never felt I shouldn't have been a woman doesn't mean I don't want everyone to know all of my past. All professions have narrow-minded people in them. I was a paralegal and what I heard some of the lawyers say in private meetings could have gotten them and the company I worked for sued. My question is why give a rat's ass what people think, you're a woman that's all anyone needs to know.

For anyone not familiar with them....out West they have "open ranges" in places which means there are no fences holding the cattle in. They just free range across the massive expanse of empty land. If you hit one, you bought it. They have the right away.

Guess who's having steak. It'd really bite if you were a vegan.

This is a real sore spot with me. This is not a DOT regulation but DOT doctors are acting like it is. I'm really tired of hearing how a sleep test can save your life if you have sleep apnea so why should this be such a big thing. The big thing is about $2000 for a test that is so open to fraud. If you are not overweight and smoke you don't have to be tested for sleep apnea but if you don't smoke and god forbid you are overweight then you have to be tested. The regulation says that a driver has no established history of respirator dysfunction. Doesn't say anything about sleep apnea. Companies can make it a requirement for employment but this should not be a qualification of a person getting a DOT medical card. I have no problem being tested when the company is paying for the sleep test but I do have a problem forking out that much money before I'm even employed and no insurance is not going to pay for it.

I would rather have a non-smoker as a trainer than a woman trainer. Not judging here, but I really have problems with smoke of all kinds.

Yesterday I went to get my permit. I aced everything but the combination including tankers. (Can't take the test for HazMat or Double and Triples until you get your CDL) I'm not sure what happened but the first person you talk to at the MVA puts what tests you are taking into the computer, then you go back into a room to take the tests. When it was time for me to take combination it wasn't in the computer, so I had to go back and get another number wait until I was called, get the combination test into the computer then go back into the little room in the back and take the test. I guess this rattle me so much I ended up failing that test. So now I have to make an appointment to retest for combination. I get home because I was told I had to go online to make an appointment myself and make an appointment for 10:50 this morning. I get to the MVA at around 10:15 give or take 5 minutes and feeling pretty good that I'm early. Oh but wait I wasn't there before 10 so now I can't take the test today even though I have an appointment for 10:50. In the manual in the very front, the part nobody reads, in small print it says no tests will be given after 10 a.m. on Saturday. Can anybody tell me why would anyone make an appointment at 10:50 and then won't see you because you didn't show up 50 minutes before the appointment? Gotta love bureaucracies.

We're told always get a second opinion before any medical procedure, why can't you get a second opinion about needing a CPAP machine? Can you go to another DOT doctor for another opinion? Seems to me insurance companies would encourage this if they have to fork out money for expensive machines.

Believe it or not testing for sleep apnea is not a DOT requirement. When I went for my physical I was given a 3 month card stating I needed a sleep test. There is a great article about it in Land Line magazine May 2014. The rule says that:

"a driver may operate a commercial motor vehicle if the driver has no established medical history of clinical diagnosis of a respirator dysfunction likely to interfere with his/her ability to control and drive a commercial motor vehicle safely."

A respirator dysfunction can be anything from asthma to cystic fibroses. A smoker could have a respirator dysfunction. I'm not against testing for sleep apnea but I can't afford a sleep test until I start working. Besides I sleep on my side all night long. It's interesting to note that the clinic were I got my physical at is attached to a sleep lab. Didn't notice it until after.

This didn't happen to me but my CDL teacher told a story about delivery cars to CarMax. The CarMax that he deliver to was on a hill above a major road, another driver was parked next to him and as they were going into the office the other driver just took off running. When my teacher saw what was going on he ran after the first guy. The truck had rolled down the hill and across a 4 lane road and into the a fence. My teacher said he knew the guy had set his breaks because he saw him do it. A couple of customers from a coffee shop nearby said wow you should have seen that homeless man jump out of that truck when it started down the hill. The guy had set his breaks but forgot to lock his door.

Most truckers wives are so busy keeping the home fires burning, the house in repair, the kids healthy and happy...that they quickly figure out one thing...When their trucker comes home, you give them a day to decompress....sleep....eat...whatever, while you wash his clothes, pack his gear, restock his food. You learn to treat his home time like a honey moon...NEVER make plans without asking him....NEVER invite people over without asking him. And NEVER NEVER NEVER have a honey do list waiting for him. Remember...The Only Thing Tougher Than a Trucker........IS A TRUCKERS WIFE.

Reading this made me laugh out loud! Shouldn't we always act like our time together is a honeymoon?! Is it the opposite when the women are the trucker? Is my man going to learn to cook a meal for me and wash my laundry if I end up getting into trucking? Fat chance!

My husband already does the cooking, however he's not touching my laundry. Last time he did that he washed my new jeans with one of my white sweaters.