I'm On The Road With My Trainer Tomorrow

What are some good questions to ask my mentor ?

What are some things to watch for?

For starters ask him or her what they expect from you? And then ask them what you should expect from them...those two questions should be enough to spark a productive conversation. At some point ask how long they have been driving, how ling have they been a mentor and how many students have they trainer? Considering your use of the word "mentor", are you a Swift driver?

Remember up to this point you know enough to pass the CDL. In no particular order, here is a list of things to consider:

- Real time backing situations; how to set up properly and then safely back into either a parking spot (as in truck stop) or dock.

- How to handle yourself at the shippers and receivers; paperwork etc.

- Safe operation under a load

- Safe operation during inclement weather

- Fueling

- Weigh stations, scales, and DOT

- Safely coupling and uncoupling the trailer

- Construction zone driving

- Understanding the relationships with your Driver Manager and Planners (you may not interact directly with the planners)

- Working with and understanding the QUALCOMM or other electronic communication device

- Trip planning and effective clock management

- Trip planning and effective clock management

That is a huge one.

Ideally you'd like to kinda pretend the trainer isn't with you and see if he'll let you try to plan out everything beforehand. Try to take your best shot at routing, the timing of rest breaks, where and when to fuel, etc. When you get a heavy load and you have to scale it try to figure out which direction and how far to move the tandems. Obviously he's not going to let you go through with the plans unless you hit them dead on. But it's a much better learning experience to pretend it's all on you and have someone correct you after you've thought it through. If he just tells you what to do or does things for you you're not going to learn nearly as much.

And if he asks, "What would you do if I wasn't here?" it's ok to think, "Poop my pants and call my mom!" but don't say that out loud.

Be sure he goes over how to count your truck. then axle weights and bridge laws. it's really easy if it's explain right and it will keep you out of trouble

Also, ask him/her how do they handle their down time or off time? If you guys are gonna split the driving, then ask how does he or she spend their off time? I had a trainer that left all of the driving to me. Never wanted to drive. Company never said anything about him not logging in either. So when it came time to end my shift and get some rest this MOFO wanted to watch dvd's at night (no head set) and drink his beer. If I had opened my mouth to say something it would have come out wrong. So i bit my tongue the whole time. But to me, how the other person handles their down time is very important. Along, with the other points others have made here. If you don't get your rest your time out on the road will be miserable. Good luck to you.

It took me about a week to realize this:

You can ask your trainer anything truck related.

Hopefully, the BS level should be low, and your mentor should answer straight, not The Old Trucker telling stories.

How to recover when you take a wrong turn. My trainer wouldn't let me make mistakes in navigation and it wasn't until I was solo that I really started learning the Qualcomm. Frankly I would emphasize Qualcomm as much as shifting. It really is that important.

- Construction zone driving

I'm pretty sure, there is construction on just about every interstate in America right now, be careful!