Why Do So Many People Get Booted Out Of Trucking? This Is Why...

I gave up my CDL 3 years ago, big mistake, a least in KY if its been less than 5 years, you only have to retake the written test. so.. I retested last week and after using your help I passed it with flying colors. Thank you for the help.

wait, what? I'm going to have to call my dmv today (Texas) and see what their rules are. It's only been a couple or few years since I gave mine up, and I remember the clerk telling me, ' you'll have to take all your test again if you want it back '. I thought she was meaning the test and the driving test. And when I went to the dmv recently to get study material, I mentioned to the Trooper who gave me the material that I'd had my CDL before. She didn't say anything. I guess maybe she thought I meant years ago. She just circled everything I needed to study. She did say though, ' hazmat will come later '. And I couldn't remember if when I went to school and took the test my first time, if I got hazmat. My question was/is .... I didn't really think to ask her why not. I just took her word for it..... But, 'wha? ', do you have to have a specific amount of time to drive before you can take hazmat.... I honestly don't know. I guess I'll ask them about it if/when I go to take my test...

I thought I was going to have to go back to school to get my license back.... or some other alternative way.

do you have to have a specific amount of time to drive before you can take hazmat....

Unless Texas has specific rules about this, the answer is no you don't need extra time behind the wheel first. You should be able to take all your written tests right away. The only exception with Hazmat is that you have to get a background check and wait for the results to come back favorably before the DMV will issue your HM endorsement (you can take the written test anytime you want, but you'll still have to wait for a favorable background check). The easiest way to do it is to get your background check first, then after the results come back go to the DMV and take the written test--that way you only have to go to the DMV once instead of twice.

Unfortunately, this is how kids are "taught" to "learn" nowadays. The requirement to actually learn and retain went out about the same time as leg warmers and break dancing.

Three cheers for the deliberate defunding of public education.

You're right. Nowadays it's all about protecting their self-esteem. Poor little snowflakes.

Odd thing is I hear almost this exact same thing from seasoned drivers all the time when it comes to the training program established at my carrier, so it does not come as a surprise to me that someone looking to enter the industry would have that attitude coming in as well. I constantly keep hearing "I should not have to get 100% to pass the test" or "I should not have to watch the entire 6 minute video again to retake the test". Funny thing is I keep hearing from my trainers (yep even after 35 years in the industry I still take training courses), that a plaintiffs lawyer will tear us apart in court, in a personal injury case, if we settle for anything less than 100% To those wise enough to be a member of this website and continually reading this forum, this attitude is one of the hardest things to deal with as a manager in this industry. While I may agree with the sentiment, my job is to protect this company in the event that something serious does happen, and if the difference between a $5,000,000.00 and $50,000,000.00 judgement is your spending 6 more minutes watching a video again and achieving a 100% score as opposed to the 89% score you just got, sorry brother the 6 minutes of your time is going to lose that argument everyday of the week. All i can say is I wish there had been a resource like this some 35 years ago, maybe I would have had a couple less mistakes over the years. Keep up the great work Brett and definitely do not let one naysayer have a negative effect on what you are doing here. Slowpoke,

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say that there are things in the high road program that aren't necessarily asked on the written test I took in Iowa. So I can see the emailers point to an extent. Yes, we do need to know a lot of what the high road covers out here, I'm not knocking that. But we don't necessarily need to know and memorize absolutely EVERYTHING to get the CDL. Again, not knocking the high road program. It's a great tool to learn.

Unholychaos, I would be very surprised if any jurisdictions testing is exactly the same as any others. I know here our testing program has 200 different questions randomly generated by a computer. So 10 people may be taking the 20 question written test at the same time, but none of them are taking the exact same test as any of the others.

Slowpoke

Annndd unfortunately it's a no go in the State of Texas... you can call and go through all the menus and finally get around to the press 0 for the operator, and wait another 20 minutes, if anyone wants to, but she told me, ' once it's downgraded, you have to do it all over again '. The written test and the road test. It can not be reinstated, no matter how much time has passed since you let it go. So, poop.... there ya have it. The great state of Texas. I'm moving. :)

Annndd unfortunately it's a no go in the State of Texas... you can call and go through all the menus and finally get around to the press 0 for the operator, and wait another 20 minutes, if anyone wants to, but she told me, ' once it's downgraded, you have to do it all over again '. The written test and the road test. It can not be reinstated, no matter how much time has passed since you let it go. So, poop.... there ya have it. The great state of Texas. I'm moving. :)

That really sucks. I left truck driving in 2015 and my license was downgraded when my med card expired in 2016. I went to the dmv a few months ago and asked about getting mine reinstated. She told me all I had to do was get a new med card and send it in to the DMV. So I did, and it worked.

From the info I've found, in Alabama you have 3 years after you've been downgraded to get reinstated without having to retake any tests. I didn't even have to retake a single written test.

I know that doesn't apply in your situation but I just wanted to throw that out there on the same subject.

Annndd unfortunately it's a no go in the State of Texas... you can call and go through all the menus and finally get around to the press 0 for the operator, and wait another 20 minutes, if anyone wants to, but she told me, ' once it's downgraded, you have to do it all over again '. The written test and the road test. It can not be reinstated, no matter how much time has passed since you let it go. So, poop.... there ya have it. The great state of Texas. I'm moving. :)

That really sucks. I left truck driving in 2015 and my license was downgraded when my med card expired in 2016. I went to the dmv a few months ago and asked about getting mine reinstated. She told me all I had to do was get a new med card and send it in to the DMV. So I did, and it worked.

From the info I've found, in Alabama you have 3 years after you've been downgraded to get reinstated without having to retake any tests. I didn't even have to retake a single written test.

I know that doesn't apply in your situation but I just wanted to throw that out there on the same subject.

lol, uh, any vacancies in AL ? ..... yeh, Texas is pretty strict on everything.... and you know, I generally do love Texas more than any state I've ever been to, but it's law process really bites you in the behind sometimes. Anyway, appreciate the info. .

Are the last two sections of the HR Training needed if you are not planning on driving flatbed?

Those two sections are just flat bed specific. You don't need them for any kind of state testing. They are designed to help new flat bed drivers be safe with their securement practices.

Personally, I think there should be an endorsement for flat bedding. That way there could be some sort of standardized testing so that flat bedders have to prove some level of competency before they are turned loose on the interstates with 40,000 pound steel coils on their truck.

I totally agree with that, OS. Also they should make the tanker and Hazmat endorsement tests also have a road test portion also. Written, and Skills for all endorsements. That way you ultimately prove you know what you are doing at least in an examiner's eyes. You truly won't know until you have driven for a long time though.

Are the last two sections of the HR Training needed if you are not planning on driving flatbed?

Those two sections are just flat bed specific. You don't need them for any kind of state testing. They are designed to help new flat bed drivers be safe with their securement practices.

Personally, I think there should be an endorsement for flat bedding. That way there could be some sort of standardized testing so that flat bedders have to prove some level of competency before they are turned loose on the interstates with 40,000 pound steel coils on their truck.

I totally agree with that, OS. Also they should make the tanker and Hazmat endorsement tests also have a road test portion also. Written, and Skills for all endorsements. That way you ultimately prove you know what you are doing at least in an examiner's eyes. You truly won't know until you have driven for a long time though.

What would the hazmat skills test look like? And also the tankers test? The tankers endorsement encompasses more than just tanker trailers. You can pull a dry van and need the tanker endorsement, if you are carrying 50 gallon drums with whatever liquid. 250 or more gallons, I think it is. Not being a smart arse, I am genuinely curious.