Highway Star
Its not just a job or a career
🚛Trucking is a lifestyle 🚛
In 2015, I was unemployed because I was let go from my retail job a year prior. While I was looking for work I had discovered this advertisement about Truck Driving and that women and veterans were encouraged to apply. It was a truck driving school that would help you to pass and obtain your commercial driver’s license (CDL). After researching it I went ahead and applied. Before you can get your permit you must take a drug test and a Medical exam to be cleared to drive a commercial vehicle.
There are two parts of the test. One is the written and when you pass you receive your permit. The second part will be the skills test for basic backing, driving, and vehicle pre/post trip inspections.
Real quick the written is the same process as taking the written for a car permit, however, for a CDL permit there is a total of 7 tests of which 4 you must pass. The other 3 are endorsements they don’t apply for a permit. Ideally you want to pass them all, however, you really only need to pass 4 and they are
General knowledge
Combination vehicle
Air Brake Test
Class C (car)
Hazmat - Endorsement
Tanker - Endorsement
Doubles & Triples - Endorsement
The reason for the Class C is because your car license will be under Class A license. You cannot have both Class c and Class A in your possession and now that you are a CDL holder your car license will be incorporated.
Your skills test will include the following
Show the tester you know how to pre and post trip your truck and trailer and yes there is a specific way to perform this listen to your instructor in school!
Straight backing
Off side backing
Ally dock backing
Parallel parking and finally
Driving road test
CDL test sites are only at specific DMV. The written tests you can take at any DMV but the skills tests are only taken at designated DMV facilities for Commercial vehicles.
The instructors will go over each question on all 6 of the tests and explain what they mean or what they are referring to. You will also watch training and instruction videos on how to do a proper pre/post trip on the truck and trailer and how to back your truck and trailer. The instructor will also provide hands on experience in backing and driving on the road with the pre/post trip inspection instructions.
You also must have 160 class hours completed to receive your Certificate saying you have passed the class instruction. You also must have this Certificate with you at all times.
🚛You will need a Medical card have passed your skills test for CDL and completed 160 class hours to receive your Certificate of Completion. All is required before obtaining your CDL🚛
For me this was life changing a way out of living paycheck to paycheck. The possibilities are endless in trucking. Even with autonomous driverless I still believe it will be a good choice for a career. No matter your gender the pay is the same because you get paid by the mile. Now because the trucking industry is still considered a male dominated industry, however, the percentage of women drivers are increasing. When I started in 2015 it was at 7% now its at 13.7%. Not a huge jump but it is increasing.
Becoming a truck driver is not just a job or a career its a lifestyle. Think about it that cab your driving is your office and if your over the road (OTR) it is also your home in a sleeper cab. Usually an OTR driver is out 21+ days thats 3 weeks and depending on what your hauling you are likely out longer than that. Think about the concert tour drivers. They are out for the duration of the entertainer’s tour.
To answer your question, yes you may miss a birthday or a graduation and it is not on purpose. Hauling freight can be unforgiving at times because most carriers do try to get you home on time and things like inclement weather can shut you down or a major accident and in those instances those are out of everybody’s control.
Even with that I love trucking. For the 10 years I drove I had worked for some good carriers and some not so good. I do miss it and maybe I will be back inside a truck again but for now there are a couple of matters I need to see through.
As always keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down. 10-4 over and out 🚛
Thanks for reading! Be blessed🙏🏼
This just proves you’re one of the coolest people on here, Diane 🫶🏼 hats off to you, truly! Bring a truck driver can’t be easy for a number of reasons, so I genuinely applaud you. Keep rocking 🫶🏼