My First Mentor

I remember when I used to train student drivers. There were two things that were mandatory for the students to learn on top of learning to drive the truck.

1) They learned to read street signs along the road way we were traveling on. We all know,current drivers should at least know, while we are driving we learn to watch everything on the road and file it a way for relevant Info that we can use. I made my students repeat every speed limit sign and bridge height sign as we passed them. They hated it but they did it. It's good training to learn what the signs are saying without having to stare each sign down. That way you can glacné at a sign and take in the info and process it faster without having to think about it.

2) they learned how to pre trip and run a trip the old fashion way. Meaning no GPS for the first week. During pre trip planning the old way you learned your routes better and you talked to the shipper AND the receiver to get directions and to confirm any details that they were unsure of. Believe me this is the best way to pre plan. How many times have people been surprised a GPS wanted them to go through a residential area? Doing "old school" trip planning and you won't have to worry about it.

Sure it sounds mean but there are millions of drivers that do the same thing everyday. Why should someone not pass on tried and true methods of getting a job done the right way? Now I am not saying that it's the only way to learn but I taught it cause it always works and later on you can choose to incorporate it into your own driving style or not BUT at least then you have the choice to. Most do not have that choice now a days because they are not taught more than how to put the address into a GPS and surprised that the customer is really not in the middle of that farmers field like the GPS says it is.

Guyjax, I totally agree with ya. I would train students the same way. You don't want to rely too heavily out there on any one tool or technique if you can help it. You want drivers to learn all of the tools and techniques possible so they have more flexibility and a bigger arsenal when it comes to getting the job done.