Profile For Michael P.

I’ve been reading posts here for a long while, but this is my first. A quick background: I was a Police Officer / Detective for 16 years and at the age of 40 decided to give truck driving a try after months of deliberating. As with a lot of people, all my coworkers and friends told me I was crazy, but my wife is supportive so here I am.

I started at Prime last November and passed my CDL test with a trifecta in early December. I was having a really tough time adjusting to living with my trainer, but thanks to advice I read on here and my life experiences of dealing with all kinds of people, I’ve been roughing it out and doing my best to learn. My trainer doesn’t allow me to back or park (done each maybe twice) but I’ve had tons of highway miles.

So fast forward to early this week. Less than 2 weeks to go in TNT training, and I had one of the dumbest moments of my adult life. After a long night of driving, I pull into a truck stop, where I would normally just pull into the fuel island and switch drivers. The back row was fairly open so I began circling back there with my trainer awake. I rounded a turn and cleared the trailer parked at the end. I didn’t realize a truck was parked about 5 feet sticking out into the lane and the rear of my trailer hit the front end of the truck.

All I could think about (other than the expletives coming from my trainer; which I understood and deserved at that moment) was reading so many times to watch my wagon. It only took a second of relaxation to ruin a lot of days.

Needless to say, there’s been some sleepless days and nights since. Prime added 10K miles to my training, which I was very understanding of and grateful to still be employed.

I certainly learned the hard way about watching the trailer. A lesson I will never forget. But my confidence is pretty shot and now I’m even more worried about the backing and parking.

I just wanted to share my experience for other newbies, if any are still reading. Always watch that trailer.