Getting Started To Become a Truck Driver

How to Get Started

So you have made it this far, and you still think you want to be a truck driver. How do you get started?

There are several ways, some of which are listed below:

• Start driving a smaller truck locally to gain the experience needed to move up to bigger trucks and longer hauls, if that is what you want.
  
  
• Go to a company that has its own driving school. They will put you through their school and then assign you to run team with a driver/ trainer until they feel that you are qualified to be out on your own.
  
  
• Go to a commercial driving school that will help place you in a job after graduation. If you decide to go this route, do a lot of research on different schools and their relative cost, time actually spent behind the wheel, and their ability to put you in contact with satisfied graduates, etc. Make sure that you take the time to pick the right school.
  
  
• Research the jobs available and their requirements by reading various trucking publications that can be found free or for a small cost at most truck stops. While you are there, observe and talk to truck drivers to help you decide if you really want to live the lifestyle of the long-haul driver.

Try to avoid working for a company that has a 50 MPH safety department, a 60 MPH truck, and an 80 MPH dispatcher. A company like this will want you to log and run slow, but dispatch will still want you to cover a lot of ground per day. How to accomplish this will be considered your problem.

Low public esteem

As a driver, you will unfortunately sometimes be looked down upon by the general public. At one time, drivers were more highly regarded, but due to such things as the crude language and demeanor of drivers over the CB radio, poor driving habits, such as tailgating and other forms of driving that may intimidate automobile drivers, and just the sheer number of trucks on the road today, many people are fed up with trucks and their drivers.

To the average person, trucks are like prisons and power generation plants: everyone wants to have power to run their appliances and toys, and everyone wants criminals locked up, but no one wants a prison or power generation plant in their backyard. By the same token, they want to be able to go to the store and buy whatever they want whenever they want, but no one wants to find a truck in their way.

The "Knights of the Road" image of drivers has been tarnished, but there are still many drivers who deserve the title. Unfortunately, they are the ones that are seldom heard about or even thought about because they go about their business with a minimum of impact on the travelling public.