These CDL schools have no loyalty to anything other than the dollar. Their only mission is to get a license in a students hands. They aren't designed to give anyone any more experience than what's needed to pass the test. Some do a better job at it than others. Anyone expecting much more from a CDL school will be very disappointed. The only thing at stake here is getting a license, whether with 6, 8, 12, or 50 hours, not getting experience. Training/experience comes later with a company.

 

1) NO

2) I probably had 12 also----or less. And, thru luck i passed on the first try. I ran over a curb and crossed the lines when i straight backed but the examiner didn't care. He also fell asleep while i was driving. So, it was mostly luck.

You need to get your a$$ in a simulator; I will try to find a link. Where do you live?

 

No.

I wont even let students on the trailer until they have 12 hours on the tractor by itself.

Our basic course is 46 hours long. I dont even think that is long enough. But to give the hours I think are really necesary, I would have to charge more than anyone would, or could, pay.

 

Maybe. It was for me.
But I am over 60 and had driven over 1,000,000 miles before I ever went to school. Experience counts.

 

Jim, When you say, "These CDL schools", Which schools are you refering to? I think by aserting all schools are the same, is exactly opposite the debate here. Whether attending a school that provides more BTW time (as well as important training and education) has any merit. I think it does. You get what you pay for. One could go to a mill, get minimal training and BTW time, and then pass an OTR test. Or one could go to a better school, get more and better training and BTW time, then pass the OTR test. Either one gets you to the same point, as far as licensing goes. But practically speaking, wouldn't you agree that, all things being equal, the person who is better educated, and has more time behind the wheel has an advantage? Being better prepared for the challenges ahead?

Also, look at all the posts here about poor, and or, inadequate training by company trainers. If someone doesn't benefit from the education and additional BTW time a good school provides, what then? The granting of a class A license isn't probationary or conditional. It authorizes a person to drive a bigrig ALONE, and under ANY conditions, period. It does not assume they will be under the careful supervision of a qualified trainer. This is why i think that extensive preperation and actual driving experience is so very important.

The bottom line here is that I disagree with you on two points. Your assertion that all driving schools are the same (they're not), and that there's no merit in additional BTW time (setting aside education and training), there is.

I agree 100% that experience is the best teacher. I guess the real issue here is when and how this experience should take place. I think it should be before one gets the license that grants the authority, if for safety's sake alone.

 

I dont think that experience is the best teacher.

And that is because it could be all either lousy or bad experience. Or not enough experience in the right application.

The best teacher is the practical and effective application of experience. so this means that you will learn everyday, all day.

You need to know the difference between learning something, and doing something, and that comes with a good foundation in learning how to think.

I do not teach my students how to drive trucks.

I help them to learn how think in a way that they never have thought before.

The easiest thing I do is truck driver training.

The hardest thing I do is Truck Driver Thinking.

And there is no way you can do that in 12 hours.

 

Thanks Rocky, appreciate your insight on this matter. I also appreciate the importance of what you do as a trainer, believe me I do. And I realize the practicality of granting an A license with less training/experience than might be ideal. I mean they have to draw the line somewhere. My point is simply this; I think that 12 hours BTW before testing for, and potentially getting a license is cutting it a little close. Schooling's no match for what you help students accomplish. It only helps prepare them for it. What I'm not saying is a person should spend an eternity in a classroom, and infinite BTW time under "labratory" conditions, so that they'll know everything they need to, before they're even allowed to test for their license. I'm not that naive. But when someone says that there's no difference between 6 hours and 50 hours BTW time, i just have to say the difference is 44 hours. That's all.

So thanks again for your take Rocky. I really am trying to gain a better understanding of all things trucking, so bare with me. And to that end, could you think of an example of a situation where you "help them to learn how to think in a way that they never have thought before." I really find that interesting. Thanks.

 

I only had just less then 2 hours of all which at night.. Went to mtc, a bottom of the barrel cdl mill. I passed no problem in Stl.

 

It is not just 44 hrs, it is what is done in those 44 hrs that counts. Our regular course is 48 hrs, we add to that 20 hrs for our Advanced Mountain Training. The driver that comes back after the AMT is a completely different driver than the one that went out two days previous.

Here is an example of a change of thinking.

If someone is driving behind a car, and the car has a right signal on and break lights on and if you ask them what the person is doing, the vast majority will answer "they are turning right".

You have to ask yourself what you know for sure in that situation.

The only thing you can be almost certain of, is that they have their foot on the brake peddle. If that is so, then it would be best to assume that they are stopping.

They may have left the turn signal on from a previous turn and dont realize that it is on. All of us have driven down a road with a turn sigal on that we have forgoten about.

Or they may have turned on the wrong signal, and may be making a left hand turn, and in their frame of mind, then will think that you know that. Then they make the left hand turn while you are passing them because you are thinking they are making a right hand turn.

All a flashing turn signal proves, is that it is working. Nothing else.

So when you see someone with a signal on, dont believe it.

If you do, then you will assume they are getting out of your way, as opposed to thinking that they are stopping in front of you.

And in a 120,000 lb tractor/trailer, that can be the difference between stopping safely, or killing every child that is in the back seat of the car in front of you.

Every student who comes to my school, thinks they are coming in the door to learn to drive. Every one of them leaves at the end of course knowing that what they really learned was how to think in a different way than they every did before.

I would not waste their time and money with anything less.

They can learn to "drive" anywhere and for a lot less money than I charge.

It may seem as arrogant, but I consider almost all other driving schools as bush league.

I consider ProDrivers as the Major Leagues. And not everyone can make it in the majors. I have students who come and then leave, I have instructors who want to work for me, and cannot make the cut.

As in the Major leagues, ProDrivers is not for everyone, nor can everyone play at this level. It is hard, and it should be. As a consumer, you should get your moneys worth.

But with determination and desire you get to play with the big dogs, and here are some of the players,

http://www.rockymtnprodrivers.com/Pi...es/pict.3.html