Commercial Truck-driving School

In earlier times, someone who wanted to drive a big truck would start out by riding with an experienced driver. He would help out with chores such as keeping the rig clean and loading and unloading, and gradually pick up the art of handling the big rig. Modern regulations (since about 1992) provide that a person is not allowed to drive a big truck until he or she has a CDL, but you cannot get a CDL without experience driving a big truck. It is a Catch-22. This results in a proliferation of schools that teach commercial truck-driving.

Most truck-driving schools concern themselves mainly with teaching you what you need to know to pass the test and obtain a CDL. They will teach you the basics of keeping a logbook and give you an introduction to DOT regulations. It can only be an introduction, because there a lot of DOT regulations. You will learn something about weight and size restrictions, the requirement for daily vehicle inspections and how to perform them, and a host of other details like planning a route and a schedule. Properly filling out a logbook is more complex than an outsider might think. There are people on the road who have been doing it for 30 years, and they have been doing it wrong the entire time. All of the subjects covered in the school are necessary and the prospective driver will learn it faster and better through focused instruction than he or she would by just muddling through until they can figure it out.

The good thing about the truck-driving school is it will teach you what you need to know to obtain a CDL. The problem is that is all it will teach you. They do teach some of the basics about handling the big rig. Most will provide at least some instruction in how to back up. They will see to it that you get some time behind the wheel but there will not be a lot of that. There simply isn’t enough time during the short school term to let you have much opportunity to actually drive.  Some schools but not all offer some training in backing a tractor-trailer. Backing a trailer properly is a procedure that many drivers have great difficulty learning. Even some experienced truck drivers try to avoid backing up whenever possible. One simple rule to apply if you ever try to back up a trailer: steer from the bottom of the wheel. That is, turn the bottom of the wheel in the direction you want the trailer to go. Another item truck driving schools will either gloss over or omit entirely is driving in the mountains. Mishandling a big rig on a mountain road can get you killed. If you attend a truck-driving school and you do receive some training on driving on mountain roads, be skeptical of what you are told. Much of the information handed out by instructors and safety departments is useless, and some of it is dangerous. If you want to learn how to safely navigate mountains, talk to somebody who has actually done it. You only get one chance to go down the mountain too fast so it is essential you handle the downhill run properly.