So I’m going back to truck driving school in a couple of weeks to hopefully get my class 1 licence. I’m doing it at the same place I did my class 2 so I have some idea of the routes.
It should be fun. But I also realise I should probably try and help myself get ready. And should try and stop being a lazy driver with one hand on the wheel and just following my satnav the whole time. I’ve gotten into habits which probably are not ideal for training.
So does anyone have any tips on getting ready? Apart from the obvious start driving like you did when you did your test again. I’m going to do that. But on my test I didn’t spend 85% of my time on the motorway with cruise control on.
A few shunters at a place I do a fair bit of agency work have offered to show me their way of both reversing and also coupling. But they can’t see to agree what the correct way is themselves. So is the consensus that it’s worth me practicing with them or should I leave it for someone whose job it is to teach this stuff?
sammym:
A few shunters at a place I do a fair bit of agency work have offered to show me their way of both reversing and also coupling. But they can’t see to agree what the correct way is themselves. So is the consensus that it’s worth me practicing with them or should I leave it for someone whose job it is to teach this stuff?
There’s only one way to couple and uncouple a trailer. If they don’t know then probably best wait and learn from someone who does.
sammym:
A few shunters at a place I do a fair bit of agency work have offered to show me their way of both reversing and also coupling. But they can’t see to agree what the correct way is themselves. So is the consensus that it’s worth me practicing with them or should I leave it for someone whose job it is to teach this stuff?
There’s only one way to couple and uncouple a trailer. If they don’t know then probably best wait and learn from someone who does.
Fair enough. One was saying you should use air suspension to avoid damaging the headboard if height is wrong, and the other said you should wait until you have passed your test for that. And one thinks you need to use something called black and the other said that the trailer brake goes on automatically so there is no need.
You advised me when I needed it, so I will return the favour. Take the offers of help, the more practice you have in an artic the better. Let’s look at the worst case scenario: you learn to do it… the wrong way, so what? Start your training with a clean slate and do it how you’re taught, the shunter may have shown you a better way for when you pass
You’re an intelligent fella, get all the practice you can. You won’t have time to develop ingrained bad habits in the short space of time before your training, that takes months or years. If you can do some shunting, trust me it really helps
As said, be careful with the coupling/uncoupling. There’s plenty of folks taking short cuts every day. Sadly, folks die from time to time. But I would encourage as much time as possible reversing. No matter what habits are passed on, they will be easy to correct if needs be.
Right - I’m gonna take them up on a bit of reversing practice. But probably leave the coupling alone. I work as a relief driver - a certain number of class 1 and 2 drivers need to be there for contractual reasons, and in reality none of us do more than an hours work in a 12 hour shift. We are simply there because of the huge penalties for the company is they don’t get a load to another site 5 miles away in the same city within a timeframe. Usually, I just sleep or read my book.
Worst case scenario it’s no use. Best case it’s a bit of help. Just need to work out when I’m next there and text one of the lads asking to take them up on the offer
