Learning to Drive a Semi-Truck is Harder Than You Think

"jsmizira" (jmizira) 02/17/2015 at 14:41 • Filed to: Truck yeah!

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Hey you. Do you remember how easy it was to get your driver's license? Yeah about that... Childs play. Want to pass the Class A commercial driver's test? You may have failed before you even began.

In the United States of 'Murrica driving a semi truck conjures up romantic images of the lone modern cowboy diving his awesome diesel powered 54 foot mural of the wild west into the sunset. That, or some meth addled hillbilly who has probably paid last time he got any at the local truck stop five hours ago. It is the second image that is the reason getting your CDL is so hard.

The thinking goes as thus: "I have a wife, she drives the kids to and from school and the grocery store while I, a (lawmaker of some sort), sit at work and do something lawer-y. I want her to be alive when I get home because A) I want some dinner tonight and 2) I kind of like her. Should I make getting a regular license more of a scholastic endeavor? No I shall make getting the ability to drive a big heavy dangerous semi-truck almost impossible. That will make sure I have dinner tonight. I hope its not meatloaf again." /scene

Has this worked? Actually it has. By making the license hard to get you eliminate a lot of the unwashed masses and bring in a more "suit and tie" employee. The thought is they wont do as much dumb stuff on the road as they need to keep their job to pay off their art history college debt. Add on top of that the harsher penalties that CDL holders face when they get speeding, DUI's, DWI's, reckless driving, and other tickets and you end up having a safer driver overall.

So how does the test to even get a class A CDL compare with the standard divers license test?

Written

The written test for the regular driver's license can seem daunting. "You mean there is a Front and back? So Many Questions!" The CDL requires you to retake that test. Then the Class a test requires another test, again front and back. Think that's it? Nope. You probably need your airbrake test if you want to hop into any old Peterbilt and run it down the road. Front and Back. Want to haul liquids? Tanker test. Front. Back. Want to haul more than one trailer? Doubles and Triples. only the front... Ha! Just kidding, Back too. Hazardous Material? Haz Mat test Front, Back, and FBI Background check! Miss too many questions? Fail the background check? Are a Terrorist?

FAIL!

Phew at least now you can get your permit now right?

Nope!

Where is your health card? Health card? Health card. You have to go to an occupational doctor and they have to check to make sure that you are healthy enough to drive your 40 ton missile down the road. Heart problems? You are going to raise eyebrows. Reflex issues? Heads will shake at you. Can't see well enough? You're humped. Go home. We don't need you on the road.

Air brake

Congratulations! You passed all of the written test and you aren't dead enough to drive a truck. Now what? You take your Class 8 truck and trailer (you have one of these, right?) to the DMV and find out that you need an appointment to take the test. Crap! Fine you make an appointment and come back and the DMV tester (who wants you to fail so they can go on about their "Christians for Israel" support group that "you should really attend" after you tell them that you are from the Palestinian Territories o_O ) comes sauntering out. They don't say much and expects you, like a bad date, to do all the talking. First you tell him or her (you're not really sure and you don't want to be rude) you want to do your airbrake test. This needs to be done perfectly and You need to say all the numbers exactly while you do your checks. Miss something? Anything? You Sure?

FAIL!

Or maybe you pass. Congrats!

Pre-Trip

Now you need to check over your big rig. Everything needs to be checked and you need to tell the tester exactly what you are checking and what you need to check about it. Is it brakes or tires? Miss one thing and you miss that one thing on all 18 of the wheels. That's 18 points down the drain. You know what that means?

FAIL!

But let's say you don't. Let's say you did everything right up until now. Your written test was flawless. Your physique is impressive and slightly intimidating. You have a degree in air brake fluid dynamics. You've built the truck yourself and know every single nut and bolt and slack adjuster and its molecular build up.

You think you are in the clear? You think you are out of the woods? You haven't even got out of the tree. Dust that bark and sap off your crotch because now you have to do the skills test.

Skills Test

It's good to have dreams. Do you know what else it's good to have? Skills!

And you are going to need it. Park the truck by backing into a blind alley? You better know how to do that. Back up perfectly straight? That really should be second nature to you now. Making turns without hitting or running stuff over? Do we really have to cover that part or are you just a big lummox that you need a reminder?

Last but absolutely maybe not least is parallel parking. "That doesn't seem CRAZY hard" you might think. However the parallel parking test is a misnomer. The trailer is parked parallel to a line and the tractor is perpendicularly parked. So in the end it looks like an "L" if God were looking down and smiling on your efforts. If you've come this part of the test He probably has. At this point He might give His attention to more pressing matters and feeling confident you decide to run over a cone.

FAIL!

On the Road

Good news! Your tester thinks you are attractive and totally doesn't see that bright orange pancake that was a cone coming out from your rear duals because He/She (you still haven't figured that out) was gawking at you like a dog gawks at the forbidden sausage. Moving on to the on the road section of road you are met by rapidly changing yellow lights, highway onramps with half the people moving too slow and half operating at the speed known as "Plaid", and the occasional Google driverless car. That lady in the 10 year old cherokee who doesn't look like she is about to pull out of that parking lot? She does and she wants to make a career out of that slow right turn into your lane. That construction zone you moved over for and slowed down for way in advance? The excavator operator is a novice who likes to swing his boom into traffic and almost makes a nasty gash in your truck. The people honking at you while they do 75 in a school zone do you no favors. Then you have to remember to call out the railroad crossings and the pedestrian crossings. Don't forget about bri...

CRASH!!!!

Yeah... you are supposed to call out the height of bridges. You forgot that. It just opened up your trailer like a can of proverbial worms.

FAIL!

You know, screw this. I'm taking up Blogging.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > jsmizira 02/17/2015 at 14:48

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And yet you can drive a 45 foot, 30,000 pound tour bus RV with no additional training whatsoever! 'Murica.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > jsmizira 02/17/2015 at 14:50

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LOL

Bandit > jsmizira 02/17/2015 at 15:00

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I want to drive this '76 Kenworth rig just once. It would make my life so great

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/17/2015 at 15:01

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And yet you can drive a 45 foot, 30,000 pound tour bus RV car with no additional training whatsoever! 'Murica INDIA!

FTFY

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Bandit 02/17/2015 at 15:05

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Now days that is a big ass fine, even in a damn parking lot or field,

Bandit > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 02/17/2015 at 15:43

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Seriously? You can't operate one on private land?

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Bandit 02/17/2015 at 15:54

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Not in the land of the Free(*some terms do not apply), according to my old diesel tech instructor with over 20 years in the field.

Gonemad > jsmizira 02/17/2015 at 16:14

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Or you can come to Brazil, do it here for next to nothing skills, and then go back to 'Murica. Over here you must know how your truck works, though. Mechanical skills, because you are the sole mechanical expert in the next 500 miles.

And you must know how to operate a dry clutch. Like ringing a bell. Go Johnny go.

jsmizira > Gonemad 02/17/2015 at 16:18

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... And have to pass the american test again.

as far as learning mechanical skills, this separates the well to do truckers and the broke ones.

dcchamberlin > jsmizira 02/17/2015 at 20:36

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You have a degree in air brake fluid dynamics. - You made this part up!

Manny05x > jsmizira 02/17/2015 at 22:05

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my cousin got his license about 6 months ago he got lucky a friend is teaching him how to drive while also working with him.

jsmizira > Manny05x 02/17/2015 at 22:21

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That's usually how it works now a days. Going it alone is an exercise in futility.

Zombie Cucumber > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 11:45

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I had no idea that so many semi truck drivers were art history majors!

SgtMaj > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 11:45

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Semi arrives from Chicago at our warehouse. Driver, female, East European asks our Receiver if he can back the trailer up to our dock!

jsmizira > Zombie Cucumber 02/18/2015 at 11:48

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Yup. Join the trend. Its the hipster thing to do!

TJDMAX > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/18/2015 at 11:49

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Technically, you can buy a semi truck and drive it around on a class C license as well. Many people register them as RV's so that they can drive a semi as a Toterhome type rig. As long as they keep it under 26K GCVW

jsmizira > SgtMaj 02/18/2015 at 11:49

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I bet thats an insurance scam move.

TJDMAX > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 11:54

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Awesome write up. One other thing to add about the penalties of having a CDL is that your insurance now skyrockets in price along with the fines for all the same tickets you can get in a standard vehicle. And also you can't ever clear any infractions from your record like you can on a standard class C license. And not to mention that there are a whole range of new tickets you can get when driving a Semi that you can't get in a regular car.

So it really never pencils out to have a CDL unless you regularly tow over a 26K GCVW or work as a truck driver. Which is the point of a commercial drivers license...they aren't meant for average people to run out and get one so they can haul the bigger 5th wheel toy haulers...and they (DMV people) make it annoying to get one just to prevent this from happening.

SgtMaj > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 12:06

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Oh no, the trucking firm that uses these Balkan divers has some of the most competent/incompetent drivers I've ever seen. Guys that back up to an angled dock in a narrow lane like they're maneuvering a Soyuz capsule to the ISS and others that take longer to dock than it takes to unload a trailer, no exaggeration. One guy took a good half-hour to get aligned.

450X_FTW > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 12:06

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if you drive a commercial vehicle you need to have chauffeur license, medical card, log book, dot road kit, dot placards. That's any vehicle with a GVWR of over 10,000 lbs, or GCWR of the same weight, even if the trailer is empty. So when we do testing for Grand Cherokee with a trailer we have to have all that stuff. Yet this guy who I snapped a pic of in Wyoming doesn't need a special license. Blocked the 2 lane highway for about 30 minutes thinking he could bust a U turn and got stuck. Anyone driving an RV or towing a trailer should need a special license, like Europe has.

450X_FTW > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 12:08

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Even Clarkson agrees it's difficult

450X_FTW > TJDMAX 02/18/2015 at 12:09

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Also the BAC limit is lower for CDL, something like .04 I think. Even if you're driving your personal car it's still .04

kyleshootscars, Eurotrash Tragic > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 02/18/2015 at 12:53

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You actually can in most places. There are lots of yard truck drivers (the little single seat trucks) that don't have CDLs of any sort.

kyleshootscars, Eurotrash Tragic > 450X_FTW 02/18/2015 at 12:59

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Its not 0.00 everywhere? In Ohio at least, you lose your license for a year and spend a minimum number of days in jail for any amount of alcohol at all.

450X_FTW > kyleshootscars, Eurotrash Tragic 02/18/2015 at 13:01

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For CDL drivers?

kyleshootscars, Eurotrash Tragic > 450X_FTW 02/18/2015 at 13:03

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Yeah. It was written in big ass bold letters in my CDL manual from the BMV.

450X_FTW > kyleshootscars, Eurotrash Tragic 02/18/2015 at 13:05

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For MI I was told it's .04, but was just told that didn't see it since the group I worked in we only need chauffeurs and not CDL

Vin > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 14:24

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This might all be a fond memory once autonomous vehicles become legal.

Shiyal > jsmizira 02/18/2015 at 16:22

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Also under health add diabetes. Type I is no go. Type II is doable for a some.

And in spite of all this "training" common sense can still be elusive...

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/18/2015 at 21:35

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Um ours is 55' and 9.5 tons, check your privilege. :P

diesel51 > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 02/18/2015 at 23:42

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Clearly you're instructor has no clue what he's talking about then. What about this truck makes it illegal to operate?

Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs > SgtMaj 02/19/2015 at 10:38

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I think our record for backing up to our dock is about 1.5 to 2 hrs.

Sometimes I have to tell them what to do... "Don't pull in forward, back in from our side street so that you aren't backing into our dock from your blind side", makes me feel like an asshole, but sometimes I just have to.

Mike Levine > jsmizira 02/19/2015 at 13:09

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Got mine. Wasn't easy.

atfsgeoff > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 02/19/2015 at 14:46

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I'd like to see the law cited on that. If it's on entirely private land and for personal (not commercial) use, you don't need any license at all to operate pretty much any kind of heavy machinery, be it a car, tractor trailer, front end loader, battle tank, or crane.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > atfsgeoff 02/19/2015 at 15:04

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26k & up requires at least a Class B license.

atfsgeoff > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 02/19/2015 at 15:04

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On public roads, sure.

Jim > jsmizira 02/19/2015 at 15:08

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Getting my CDL was as difficult as putting on pants. I went permit to license in 10 days. I also went in having never driven anything larger than a Ranger and without knowing how to drive a manual transmission.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > atfsgeoff 02/19/2015 at 15:20

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A driver is not required to obtain a CDL to operate any of the following vehicles:

A farm truck when it is:

Operated by the farmer or immediate family member, or an employee of the farmer:

Used to transport agricultural products, farm machinery, or farm supplies, including hazardous materials to or from a farm;

Not used in a contract or common carrier operation; and

Used within 150 miles of the farm

An authorized emergency vehicle of any size

A recreational vehicle operated for personal use

It is for Minnesota, but it's the first that came up after ads. http://www.dot.state.mn.us/cvo/faqs.html#…

atfsgeoff > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 02/19/2015 at 15:42

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Specifies public highways and all roadways owned/leased by the University of MN. Does not apply to people operating vehicles on private roadways/driveways.

169.02 SCOPE

Subdivision 1.Application to persons, places, and vehicles.

The provisions of this chapter relating to the operation of vehicles refer exclusively to the operation of vehicles upon highways, and upon highways, streets, private roads, and roadways situated on property owned, leased, or occupied by the regents of the University of Minnesota, or the University of Minnesota , except:

(1) where a different place is specifically referred to in a given section;

(2) the provisions of sections 169.09 to 169.13 apply to any person who drives, operates, or is in physical control of a motor vehicle within this state or upon the ice of any boundary water of this state, and to any person who drives, operates, or is in physical control of a snowmobile on a snowmobile trail within this state.

§

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

It is a misdemeanor for any person to willfully fail or refuse to comply with any lawful order or direction of any peace officer invested by law with authority to direct, control, or regulate traffic.

Cummins359 > kyleshootscars, Eurotrash Tragic 02/19/2015 at 19:25

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I'm looking at the cdl handbook right now. .04 for Ohio CDL

Fuel_of_Satan > Shiyal 02/22/2015 at 09:18

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Holy shit, he completely wrecked that thing! I don't even understand what possesses a man to do anything like this and all he had to do was back up into that side road on his left. That's even the easiest way to back up...

Shiyal > Fuel_of_Satan 02/23/2015 at 08:36

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Or even just a straight backup and then turn left.

Fuel_of_Satan > Shiyal 02/23/2015 at 08:41

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Yeah, I was considering that the camera car might have a queue behind him and there might not be room for it. But yeah, absolutely. That intersection also would have given him enough space to turn that thing around the way he was trying to without climbing a hill and cracking the set over so hard he hits himself. You know, just in case that side road was a bad choice too.

Shiyal > Fuel_of_Satan 02/23/2015 at 08:53

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Yeah, kinda makes you wonder. I mean, I could see myself stopping him early and and flagging for him/ giving him instruction/ pulling him outta the cab and doing it for him.

Fuel_of_Satan > Shiyal 02/23/2015 at 09:17

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If I rolled up in my truck behind him, which is unlikely as it wouldn't fit through there either, I might have offered up some suggestions just out of professionally obligated courtesy. If I was in my private car I would do what they did in the camera car. Whip out my phone and start filming.

Is that bad?

Shiyal > Fuel_of_Satan 02/23/2015 at 09:34

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Lol, I don't think so.

I suppose he won't make that mistake again. But then again, people...

LS POWA! > Mike Levine 02/24/2015 at 15:55

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My favorite part was the reverse serpentine. What a blast!

EdWunclerJr > jsmizira 03/01/2015 at 04:48

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When you do your pre trip don't forget to check the blinker fluid and muffler bearings. You don't want to break down in the middle of nowhere because you didn't check.

jsmizira > EdWunclerJr 03/01/2015 at 10:05

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this comment needs more stars than I can give.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > jsmizira 05/18/2015 at 22:41

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Fuck that. I have a hard enough time driving a 16ft box truck. Meanwhile, there’s this guy:

Jim Sanders > jsmizira 06/11/2015 at 16:45

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Semi trucks are pretty unwieldy beasts. They’ve got power and weight, but they’re a totally different animal. There’s a reason it takes so much to get your licence. Truck drivers need to be dependable.

http://www.gatewaysafety.ca/

Correy Smith > jsmizira 01/05/2016 at 16:33

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Oh, I’m guessing that it sure would be somewhat tough to drive a semi truck. With the size of a vehicle as semi truck, my guess is that there would be a lot of training to it. In fact, even my own brother who’s in a heavy vehicle licence training class has told me that he takes a lot of notes and the teacher gives the class plenty of advice. http://www.makenestrucktraining.com.au/

Going murica all over ur ass > jsmizira 12/11/2016 at 10:11

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Thisis an absolutely ridiculous blog. it’s not that hard to get ur cdl, only if u make it hard like u did (i got mine first try) u should try to encourage people to follow their dreams and not scare them just because u crashed and burned on ur test lmfao.