Left And Right Turns

Hey all, I have my test on Wednesday and I'm real nervous.

When making a left turn, you always start turning once you're in the middle of the intersection?

For right turns, are they always wide?

Let me start with good luck on that test Wednesday. I am going to guess you are referring to CDL permit test, correct?

To get to the questions at hand. So lefts you got more room so yeah turn about middle and your good. Keep in mind some trucks have different turning radius so some got to put more effort in turning or turn a bit early. Also about the right turns you don't typically have to make them wide when bobtailing but yes most the time you need them wide so the trailer doesn't hit something like a curb or pole unless your swift (just a joke). Again depends on truck some also like turning radius and if a long nose or round nose truck.

Hope this helped some not really great at explaining per say but I drive a lot at night and so I take my 30min like now and may be the only one awake on the forum currently. Might as well try helping out.

You have been driving on the road with a CDL instructor at school, right? You should realize that not all intersections are the same.

It's up to you to know how wide you need to make your turn at any given intersection.

When making a left you will probably want to keep your truck going straight until AT LEAST the middle of the intersection. For some left turns you will basically go straight for as long as you can and hug the curb on your passenger side as you straighten out of the turn. It all depends on the dimensions of the intersection.

Same thing for right turns. Keep going straight until you feel you have enough room to complete the turn without your trailer tires rolling up on the curb.

I got a little mixed up dyslexic and all. Happens I guess, I meant you may need to turn later then middle of intersection to make a left not earlier. As RealDeihl said hug the curbs just don't jump them when avoidable.

Let me start with good luck on that test Wednesday. I am going to guess you are referring to CDL permit test, correct?

To get to the questions at hand. So lefts you got more room so yeah turn about middle and your good. Keep in mind some trucks have different turning radius so some got to put more effort in turning or turn a bit early. Also about the right turns you don't typically have to make them wide when bobtailing but yes most the time you need them wide so the trailer doesn't hit something like a curb or pole unless your swift (just a joke). Again depends on truck some also like turning radius and if a long nose or round nose truck.

Hope this helped some not really great at explaining per say but I drive a lot at night and so I take my 30min like now and may be the only one awake on the forum currently. Might as well try helping out.

Hey all, I have my test on Wednesday and I'm real nervous.

When making a left turn, you always start turning once you're in the middle of the intersection?

For right turns, are they always wide?

I would hope your instructors have been getting you to drive the same route you’ll be testing on. That was my experience in both the road test and company orientation.

Have you been successful in your turns during the learning portion of your training? If so, keep doing it. If not, you’re probably not ready for testing and, if this is the case, your instructors should be able to point out where your improvements are needed.

Let me start with good luck on that test Wednesday. I am going to guess you are referring to CDL permit test, correct?

To get to the questions at hand. So lefts you got more room so yeah turn about middle and your good. Keep in mind some trucks have different turning radius so some got to put more effort in turning or turn a bit early. Also about the right turns you don't typically have to make them wide when bobtailing but yes most the time you need them wide so the trailer doesn't hit something like a curb or pole unless your swift (just a joke). Again depends on truck some also like turning radius and if a long nose or round nose truck.

Hope this helped some not really great at explaining per say but I drive a lot at night and so I take my 30min like now and may be the only one awake on the forum currently. Might as well try helping out.

My actual test for the license!

Hey all, I have my test on Wednesday and I'm real nervous.

When making a left turn, you always start turning once you're in the middle of the intersection?

For right turns, are they always wide?

I would hope your instructors have been getting you to drive the same route you’ll be testing on. That was my experience in both the road test and company orientation.

Have you been successful in your turns during the learning portion of your training? If so, keep doing it. If not, you’re probably not ready for testing and, if this is the case, your instructors should be able to point out where your improvements are needed.

Yeah, they've been decent. They'll just say I need to improve on turns, not really saying much else. But these answers are helpful

When making a left turn, you always start turning once you're in the middle of the intersection?

For right turns, are they always wide?

As RD pointed out not all turns are the same. The easiest way to handle turns is take all the room you have and/or need. Where your Tandems are will also play a role in how wide you need to take your turn.

For your CDL test the biggest things that will dock you points is impeding traffic, hitting curbs (automatic fail), speeding and swinging too wide to the point a car can squeeze in. You also want to do a buttonhook turn as opposed to a jug handle for your test. In the real world it isn't uncommon to straddle the center line to make some turns (particularly on surface streets) but not for the state test. For my state test the school had our tandems about the middle. We had to take a right turn onto a 4 lane road. During our practice runs the instructor was adamant we NOT do a buttonhook turn. His reasoning was if a car is there we will either end up waiting so we can do a buttonhook (impeding traffic since we have green light). He had us hug the center line while still in our lane, take as much room as we can to stay in our 2 lanes and make minor adjustments to "walk" the tandems around the curve and get the tractor back into the right lane as soon as our tandems cleared. They're not expecting you to be perfect but you need to demonstrate you can safely operate the vehicle. Right now you're just learning how to pass a test. You'll see that much of what they preach in CDL school isn't what happens in the real world. Your first company will teach you how to drive in the real world.

As Steve pointed out your instructors will be your best resource in this. They've had success getting other students to pass their test, they're familiar with the test route but more importantly what exactly you need to improve on.

It’s a challenge to judge your space and then steer your truck on the right path in various situations. This skill is like all other driving skills, it takes time and real life repetitions to master. My advice to myself was and is to execute turns slowly and deliberately. Not so slow that it impedes traffic, but slow enough to pay intense attention to what is in front of you AND to thoroughly monitor your MIRRORS to view the trailer tandems and tail swing all the way through the turn. Unnecessarily rushing a turn is a recipe for an accident of some sort.

Some drivers who are waiting to proceed after you have completed your turn may be impatient and even do something to demonstrate their impatience. You have to tune that out and concentrate on going through your turn safely, from start to finish.

And remember the great turning expression for most turns: Straight and Late.

All of the information provided to you is great, so I am going to touch on something that hasn't been addressed yet.

You said that you have been told that you need to work on turns. Ok, when you ask how you are doing on something and the answer is for you to work on something, follow that up by asking for specifics. Let the person know that you want to get better and that you would appreciate being told what things you can do in order to get better in the areas where you need the most improvement. Do this when you begin training out on the road after getting your license. The person who is seeing you operate the vehicle is best able to advise how to improve.