I'M A 20 YEAR OLD TRYING TO GET MY CDL A DRIVER'S LICENSE. I WANTED THIS SINCE I WAS A KID. I HAVE WORRIES ABOUT DRIVING THOSE THINGS. THE WIDE TURNS SCARE ME A BIT AND EVEN ON THE HIGHWAY IT SEEMS LIKE ITS A LITTLE HARD TO MAINTAIN LANES. AND IS THERE A TRICK TO DOING THE 'TURN LIKE YOU GOING TO HIT THE VEHICLE' TYPE TURN. ONCE I GET OVER THOSE FEARS I M GOOD. I CURRENTLY A HELPER ON A 24FT BOX TRUCK. THE DRIVER OCCASIONALLY LETS ME DRIVE BUT I FEEL I'M NOT GETTING ENOUGH EXPERIENCE. I CAN'T REALLY DO MUCH ABOUT GETTING MORE EXPERIENCE OR INTO TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOL BECAUSE MY AGE. ANY ADVICE ON TRUCK DRIVING SCHOOLS YOU RECOMMEND ( ESPECIALLY ONES I WON'T HAVE TO PAY FOR) OR ANY ADVICE ON JUST HOW TO BREAK INTO THIS BUSINESS WILL BE HELPFUL.

 

You have to pay for any school you attend in some way. If you go as company sponsored(the company pays for your schooling) you must drive for that company for a certain amount of time. If you decide to leave them before that time is up, you will owe them for your schooling. If you don't go that way, you will have to pay out of your own pocket.

24 ft box truck is nothing like a 70 ft semi. The trick to turning wide is, just don't hit the vehicle that your aiming for with the front of the truck. Once you do it enough it will become 2nd nature to you. Same with maintaining your lane, do not stare right in front of your bumper, look off into the distance and aim. Trust me, we have all felt the same as you when we started. I felt like I was on top of the road and all over the lane lines when I wasn't.

 

Check your local techschool for truckdriving programs.

 

I went to truck school when I was 20 and got my class A. I waited a couple months until I turned 21 to go drive on the road. If you don't want to pay for schooling up front you'll have to go OTR to start out... You will learn the basic's through training with a trainer and then you will fine tune your skills and learn a ton more once you go solo.

 

A 20 foot box truck is like... a really really really really short daycab. That turns sharper. Rides smoother. Doesnt take out bridges..

Dont be scared. You'll learn. You'll do it. Concentrate on not hitting sh*t. Ya do that you're a supertrucker. Voila.