Should I Report An Instructor For Unlawful Acts?

Hello.

I just accidentally clicked on a thread, erasing my very well detailed thread about earlier today. I will not spend another 40min rewriting it.. I will summarize it:

Today is my, and 3 other students first time ever driving. We nearly got broadsided (student obeying absurd instructor instruction). We nearly ran head on into a guard rail (lack of instruction from instructor).

The instructor never wore seat belt at anytime. He was talking on the phone, while driving us. Sent a few SMS texts, and sent dozens of Facebook messages while driving us, and worse: The entire duration we all drove (when he should be instructing / observing / supervising), his face was buried in his phone. Only occassionally glancing up.

There were 2 students from last week that had him, and formally complained to the school owner.

All the owner did was change who their instructor was.

Should I record these illegal acts with my phone's video camera, and report them to the school owner/Texas Department of Transportatipn?

Thanks.

Hello.

I just accidentally clicked on a thread, erasing my very well detailed thread about earlier today. I will not spend another 40min rewriting it.. I will summarize it:

Today is my, and 3 other students first time ever driving. We nearly got broadsided (student obeying absurd instructor instruction). We nearly ran head on into a guard rail (lack of instruction from instructor).

The instructor never wore seat belt at anytime. He was talking on the phone, while driving us. Sent a few SMS texts, and sent dozens of Facebook messages while driving us, and worse: The entire duration we all drove (when he should be instructing / observing / supervising), his face was buried in his phone. Only occassionally glancing up.

There were 2 students from last week that had him, and formally complained to the school owner.

All the owner did was change who their instructor was.

Should I record these illegal acts with my phone's video camera, and report them to the school owner/Texas Department of Transportatipn?

Thanks.

You will have to decide for yourself if that is a way you should go.

My driving instructor was so so at best but I did not say a word. Turned out he was also my tester for the driving part of the test. Try to keep in mind that whatever your instructor is doing may have some reasoning behind it.

Hello.

I just accidentally clicked on a thread, erasing my very well detailed thread about earlier today. I will not spend another 40min rewriting it.. I will summarize it:

Today is my, and 3 other students first time ever driving. We nearly got broadsided (student obeying absurd instructor instruction). We nearly ran head on into a guard rail (lack of instruction from instructor).

The instructor never wore seat belt at anytime. He was talking on the phone, while driving us. Sent a few SMS texts, and sent dozens of Facebook messages while driving us, and worse: The entire duration we all drove (when he should be instructing / observing / supervising), his face was buried in his phone. Only occassionally glancing up.

There were 2 students from last week that had him, and formally complained to the school owner.

All the owner did was change who their instructor was.

Should I record these illegal acts with my phone's video camera, and report them to the school owner/Texas Department of Transportatipn?

Thanks.

You will have to decide for yourself if that is a way you should go.

My driving instructor was so so at best but I did not say a word. Turned out he was also my tester for the driving part of the test. Try to keep in mind that whatever your instructor is doing may have some reasoning behind it.

Breaking laws and nearly getting 5 people (self included) killed: Makes me wonder.

After we returned to the hotel, I asked the others, point blank: "Did your instructor at any point use their cellular phone while operating the car?" They all said no. Never.

Aside from that: He has a major ego issue. After a short 2min arguement (yes: I know the shiftimg pattern; NO I have never shifted a slanted shifter 10-speed) where he just about turned into Stevie Urkel stuttering, yelling pretty loud trying to say "operate" / "run" (I corrected him before he could say it, so I wouldn't bust out laughing). I said, "I am here to learn how to operate this. For personal reasons. I am calmly quietly asking questions, unlike you, who is yelling." After that, he got real quiet, sarcastically(?) asked what questions went unanswered. I gave 3. He only answered one; and it wasn't even a direct answer.

I want to know the RPM range for shifting, PER gear. It doesn't hurt to use the speedometer (except this one is broke and freely flops in a 5mph range +/-). He gave me an answer (5th 25mph, 6th 35mph... Just like that; instead of saying 1 gear : 10mph after 25mph in 5th). Which is fine.. Just a sign of low intelligence. And by all means: Everyone reading this.. Just focus on that (seen it plenty on this forum). Anyway...

My other questions: WHEN is an appropriate distance from a stop sign to begin applying light (air) breaks? And, WHEN do you flip the gear splitter? Finally got an answer on that from myself... Flip high WHEN IN GEAR (5th). Again! Anyway...

Still pretty upset about this. Just got done explaining everything to my girlfriend about everything over the phone (1.4hrs)... So yea.

Anyway: Just asking for opinions. Thought about asking a state trooper to pull over thr vehicle tomorrow at 7:30am at a specific spot. Just to nail him for no seat belt, illegal lane change, and texting and driving.

ANYWAY! Gotta get up in 5hrs. Posting on my phone.

Daniel, It is not uncommon to find instructors that aren't all that interested in giving their very best. It's also common to come across 1000 things a day in this industry that aren't done the "ideal way". Some of it you just have to deal with, other things you should talk to someone about. But one thing you have to be careful about is making sure you don't rub people the wrong way and bring their fury down upon yourself. I wrote an article about it called New Truck Drivers: Beware of Rocking The Boat. You have to tread lightly when you're new to this industry.

Setting the instructor aside for a moment, to be honest it doesn't sound like you're helping your own cause any. Quite honestly you sound like a snarky pain in the *ss which is going to get you nowhere in a hurry. I'm sure the guy isn't a very good instructor, or at least he doesn't do things the way you expect him to. But you need to figure out something about being a rookie in this industry in a hurry. If you go around p*ssing everyone off because they're not doing everything the way you expect them to you're going to be sitting home watching an awful lot of Oprah instead of driving trucks.

I couldn't begin to count the number of people who have ruined their careers before ever getting off the ground because they focused obsessively on how everyone else did everything wrong instead of focusing on making themselves better. You spent 40 minutes writing a detailed description about yesterday (which you accidentally lost), another 15 re-writing it, and an hour and a half talking to your girl on the phone about it. Just think about how much more you could have learned about being a truck driver in those two and a half hours. And I'm sure there was another hour or two of brooding about it mixed in. Basically you wasted almost the entire evening worrying about how the instructor does his job instead of learning how to do yours.

On top of that, who do you think is the most dangerous driver on the highways today? That's right - you! A new truck driver is by far the most dangerous driver imaginable, not your instructor. He's a h*ll of a lot better driver than you are. Maybe he isn't the best teacher, but you're spending an awful lot of time worrying about how he does his job when you're number one on the list of people most likely to kill someone out there. Now with that in mind....

- Do you know all of the logbook rules inside out including the split sleeper berth rule and all of the exemptions like the two hour emergency provision and the 150 mile radius law?

- Do you know every part of the air brake system, how to troubleshoot problems, and how to spot safety issues?

- Would you be able to explain what exactly progressive gearing is and why progressive shifting is used?

- Do you know how to calculate what percentage of the weight of the fuel will go on the steer tires versus the drive tires to determine how much fuel you can add when loaded heavy?

- If they gave you a load on a tight schedule from Los Angeles to New York would you know how to trip plan every last detail?

- Could you explain the concept of weight leveraging as it pertains to loading cargo behind your trailer tandems?

- If you were facing a 6% grade for 5 miles, what percentage of the braking force would you handle using Jake Brakes if you were on dry roads versus wet roads versus snow-covered roads and why?

This is only a handful of questions off the top of my head that you're going to be facing day in and day out in about a month. Have you fully prepared yourself in every way possible to make sure you don't kill yourself or someone's family? Are you really so confident in your knowledge of inspecting and operating a big rig that there's nothing left for you to do except scrutinize the performance of those around you?

Now with all of that being said, I would recommend making an attempt to get video on your instructor if you find him doing something blatantly illegal or dangerous. Don't worry about little things like whether or not he's wearing a seat belt. Who cares? He's the one who will go out the windshield if you guys hit something, not you. But if he does anything that is clearly dangerous, that's the time to say something about it. Just make sure there are other witnesses or video to back it up.

Otherwise, focus on yourself. Focus on learning all you can. If you can't get the information from one instructor, get it from another. No big deal. Don't tolerate anyone putting you in a dangerous position, but prepare to tolerate just about everything else. Someday when you're a proven veteran with years of safe driving under your belt you can campaign for changes to be made and higher standards to be set. But as a rookie you'll find almost nobody really cares what you think about most things. That's true for being a rookie anywhere - at a factory, in a bakery, or even in the NFL. Doesn't matter. Rookies don't know enough to have a helpful opinion on most things. Just focus on learning all you can and making yourself the best driver you can be. Only put your foot down on blatant safety issues. Otherwise, just go with the flow.

He was terminated earlier this morning for sexual harassment

As a result: I learned 45-degree backing, and straight backing (1ft from both sides of the yellow lines).

Thanks for the advice though! :)

Congratulations, you clearly had a valid complaint.

That said, and reading your earlier comments, I would take to heart every word of Brett's and Old School's advice. Print out those comments and put them on the back of your bathroom door so you can review them while you're sitting there contemplating life. I'm not a driver yet, but I've enjoyed two or three different careers in my 60+ years, and I can tell you their words are some of the best advice you'll ever receive for living life in general. That's just my advice, and its worth what you paid for it!

Best of luck in your driving career!

Print out those comments and put them on the back of your bathroom door so you can review them while you're sitting there contemplating life.

What, he's got a "bathroom" in his truck?? How cool is that??

Jopa

Print out those comments and put them on the back of your bathroom door so you can review them while you're sitting there contemplating life.

What, he's got a "bathroom" in his truck?? How cool is that??

Jopa

Heye ya go Jopa!

Print out those comments and put them on the back of your bathroom door so you can review them while you're sitting there contemplating life.

What, he's got a "bathroom" in his truck?? How cool is that??

Jopa

It's right down the hall from the den, across from the bar!! What kinda ratty old truck you driving? :) :) :)

Print out those comments and put them on the back of your bathroom door so you can review them while you're sitting there contemplating life.

What, he's got a "bathroom" in his truck?? How cool is that??

Jopa

Heye ya go Jopa!

A bit cramped ... but I guess if ya gotta go yo gotta go, eh?

Jopa