Veriha VIP Academy Training

SA indeed. But, both? Sounds like a case of distracted fueling.

I've seen this many times, and you will too, unfortunately. I saw a video recently where a knucklehead sheared off BOTH tank nozzles! Situational Awareness anyone???

Yep! If you want to see a video mix twice each week "from the field" showing lots of things not to do, check out "Bonehead Truckers" on YouTube.

It's been a few days since my last post. Things are still going well. I've driven in elleven different states with two trainers. To-date, the most aggressive drivers I've encountered were in Buffalo, NY. Wow. They will turn in front of anyone and everything. In one instance, just as I was getting ready to make my right hand turn I checked my passenger mirror again. Good thing I did because a car used part of a sidewalk to go around me on the passenger side. I had my turn signal on (yes, it was operational) and didn't leave much space between my tires and the curb. Certainly not enough for a car. I was flabbergasted someone would do that. Thank goodness for those mirrors - especially the hood mirrors.

Then, yesterday while driving back to the main office in Wisconsin for service on my trainers truck, I noticed a black van in my driver's side mirror traveling at high speed, two lanes to my left. I felt he was going to do something stupid or reckless. So, anticipating nonsense was about to happen, I backed out of the throttle. Guess what? Nonsense ensued. He tried to merge three lianes to his right, in one swing. He nearly went under a semi pulling a container. If it wasn't for that commercial driver's awareness, he would have wrecked. That commercial driver saw him coming, how I don't know. But he pulled hard right onto the shoulder, just shy of hitting the jersey barriers. That driver probably saved the life of the person driving that van. I couldn't believe that truck didn't overturn. He just kept right on driving. The rest of the drive was rather uneventful. It was nice to get off the road and into the hotel for the night.

This morning I decided to head over to the main office. While I was on my way, safety called me and asked me to stop by the office to talk about next steps. No problem, I said. I'm looking forward to what's next. I got there in short order. They asked me how things were going. I said I think they're going great. I still have some things im cleaning up/fine tunning, but oberall i feel good about things. My trainers have been awesome and I feel I'm learning a great deal. I've done 100% of the driving for almost 3 weeks and managed all the loads for the last week. They told me they've heard good things from both of my trainers who thought I was ready for the road. What happened next was unexpected. They handed me a set of keys and said congratulations on a job well done. Here's the keys to your truck. I didn't know whether to jump for joy or run and hide. Lol. I knew this moment would come. But I thought it might be a week or two longer.

Tomorrow, after a driving evaluation by safety, I upgrade to solo. I'll be on a short leash for a few days running local routes. But I'll be solo.

Wow! Time goes fast when you're having fun. I still have much to learn, and a lot of experience to go. I don't feel like I've arrived anywhere, yet. But I'm happy to have earned the confidence of my trainers and the safety department in the short amount of time I've been training, and for the opportunity to drive commercially.

Staying focused on getting the job done with an eye on safety at all times!

Then, yesterday while driving back to the main office in Wisconsin for service on my trainers truck, I noticed a black van in my driver's side mirror traveling at high speed, two lanes to my left. I felt he was going to do something stupid or reckless. So, anticipating nonsense was about to happen, I backed out of the throttle. Guess what? Nonsense ensued. He tried to merge three lianes to his right, in one swing. He nearly went under a semi pulling a container. If it wasn't for that commercial driver's awareness, he would have wrecked. That commercial driver saw him coming, how I don't know. But he pulled hard right onto the shoulder, just shy of hitting the jersey barriers. That driver probably saved the life of the person driving that van. I couldn't believe that truck didn't overturn. He just kept right on driving. The rest of the drive was rather uneventful. It was nice to get off the road and into the hotel for the night.

Good LORD. What a DAY! Those PV's should have to take 8 hours of CMV instructional videos; to see what y'all (we) see!! Yep, you'll grow eyes in all portals of your head, and then some, with experience. (I'm still amazed when I ride with Tom, the stuff he sees.)

That's a professional, right there, that you saw. I'm betting that will stick with you for a LONG time.

I'm glad to read training is still going well for you, man.

Stay safe, always~

~ Anne ~

Congratulations Bill! Way to go.

I agree. Even when driving my personal vehicle I've never understood what makes someone want to hurry up and get in front of an 80,000 lb truck.

As always, thanks for the well wishes. Updates about my first day solo to come soon.

Take care Anne! Good LORD. What a DAY! Those PV's should have to take 8 hours of CMV instructional videos; to see what y'all (we) see!! Yep, you'll grow eyes in all portals of your head, and then some, with experience. (I'm still amazed when I ride with Tom, the stuff he sees.)

That's a professional, right there, that you saw. I'm betting that will stick with you for a LONG time.

I'm glad to read training is still going well for you, man.

Stay safe, always~

~ Anne ~

Thanks Dennis.

Congratulations Bill! Way to go.

Yesterday after passing my driving and backing evaluation, I spent the rest of thw day with safety and HR taking care of final preparations for going solo. A lot of work goes into this, as I'm sure most everyone here knows.

After that, I headed out to the yard to PTI my new to me freightliner. All was in good order. I took about an hour familiarizing myself with the controls. After spending weeks in a Volvo. It was a bit of a change.

I activated my eld and to my surprise the short leash I thought I would be on was a lot longer than I thought I thought it would be. Take an empty to the shipper and hook and deliver a load to a consignee 935 miles away.

I checked with my FL - yep, it's legit.

This morning I hooked an empty from the yard. Topped off with fuel and Def, and headed out to the shipper. No Bobtailing in.

I used the navigator feature on the eld. I've been warned it's a bit squirrely. Sure enough was. It tried to send me on a right hand turn that just wasn't going to happen. That turn had curb and sign destruction written all over it. I'm glad I recognized it before I was too far in to get out. From there, I went down the road about another mile and made a couple of right hand turns to get back where a need to be. Thank goodness I did enough pretrip to know a work around. Phew.

Anyway, the adventure continued when I arrived at the shipper. Guard said he would open the gate when my tandems were all the way back. So, I set them. The gate opened. I started driving and just as I was about to cross the threshold of the gate it started closing again. No way I could have made it through without it hitting the truck so I stopped and let it close in front of me. I called the guard shack to let them know about it. They were extremely apologetic and opened it for me again. Phew. I don't know what that would have cost. But, another close call and I didn't even have my load yet.

After that, I dropped, hooked, double-checked everything I did and skiddadled out of there post-haste.

Anyway, I burned a lot of clock today. Time to reset and bring this load to the house tomorrow.

Congrats. Keep them wheels a turnin!

Will do. Thanks, George.

Congrats. Keep them wheels a turnin!