Not Gonna Lie... What The F%*K Did I Get Into?
Topic 8144 | Page 2
We all went through this, man. Just stay focused and cool. Take your time. You must stay calm so your mind can record how the movements of the steering wheel affect the rear tandem movement. The second you lose your cool and get hot and flustered the lesson is over. You may as well walk away for 15 and let another student in.
Evaluation is when the instructors find out who needs more help and who can go on to the next maneuver. Then they will pull aside the slower learners and tell you why you're being kept back.
I had never backed anything in my life prior to CDL school so I was a slow learner. Second to last in my class starting out. By the end, I was second from the top. I stayed cool and kept at it. This lesson will carry through to your first paying load and beyond.
A hot headed trucker is a menace...
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
And today was a new day... got pretty good at downshifting, didn't stall the truck anywhere, didn't get caught out of gear in any intersections, didn't take out any signs and all my turns were spot on, both left and right. In one of the other trucks the instructor had to pull out the brakes to avoid a collision... Ouch!
Oh and I went out for my offset evaluation-and nailed it without a pull up. Done. He only marked me down for not using my mirrors correctly. Our instructor showed us the first parallel and he walked me thru, then I did it alone and nailed it on my first go go. Also nailed the alley dock twice from some bad starting positions left by other students. I'm getting really good at maneuvering the trailer going forward. Now I just need to reverse my brain to do it in reverse!
Today was a good day. Thanks for ALL of the support guys. It's truly appreciated.
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
A hot headed trucker is a menace...
Not me anymore. I lost the energy to get P.Od at 99% of things a long time ago.
Hang tough J! If I can do this, which I am, you can do this. I had one day on the backing range where I was a backing demon and the next day I couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time. The following day all the stars aligned and I nailed my skills test. Just take some deep breaths and keep on keeping on! You'll be fine.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
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In reality you will always try to keep sight in your left mirror no matter what, if you lose sight in the left you are going to stop or do a pull up or both. Out there on the yard it is okay to loose sight for a little bit because you are going learn how the tractor pushes the trailer. At my school I ended up with an 93 GPA and it would of been higher if I would of not gotten a 70 on the yard test. I failed my parallel the first time because I over steered and lost sight, then I forgot how to correct it because I got frustrated. By the time I did the DPS parallel test I over steered again but knew how to correct it only I sent myself back to the curb a little too soon not giving myself as much room as I could have taken so I only had about four feet to straighten up when pulling forward. I passed and it was a decent park, tight as hell but decent. My point is I learned how to fix it and even though it was not perfect concept allowed me to correct my over steering. If I can do them that tight in the real world it might come in handy. Watch in both mirrors the rows of cones and center but my advice is ride the line on your left side, you could almost ignore your right once you can follow a straight line. Use both mirrors though. I am preparing mentally for people to laugh, get angry, honk their horns and call me names in the truck stops in the future because I am taking my time and theirs if that what it takes. At least you get more than one pull up in the real world.
OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.