Train In Big Rigs Get An Office With A View
ookout!” yelled Darwin even send an airline pilot
from the passenger seat. spinning to oblivion.
Our rig raced down the
road. He lunged at the steering Most aspiring truckers would
wheel, like an outfielder thankfully descend from the cab,
catching a fly ball over the like ice cream dripping down a
fence. An abrupt jolt of the cone on a hot summer day – and
wheel yanked the Kenworth truck slink back to the chaos, conflict
back to the middle lane. We and confusion of commuting in
missed a collision with a cars and congestion. Only to say
twenty-something woman in a the next morning “why am I the
compact car. only person who knows how to
drive?”
“That was close!” I exclaimed to
Darwin Rhodes, a boyish George WHY DRIVE TRUCKS?
Jones look-alike and
multi-million mile driver. Rhodes But cowardice in the face of
owns Rhodes Trucking in challenge goes against my core.
picturesque Penn Laird, Virginia. And I am a child of the
seventies. Songs like BTO’s “Roll
A second earlier, a flip of the on Down the Highway,” CW McCall’s
turn signal and check of the “Convoy” and Jerry Reed’s “East
mirrors revealed no cars in the Bound and Down” ruled the
left lane. Surely nobody would airwaves. It is easy to
zip around us as we merged left. romanticize life on the road and
But there she was. Equally frontiers to be discovered.
confusing is the forward view
from the driver’s seat. There’s a Driving big rigs offers: the lure
dizzying horizon of buttons, of adventure; seeing new places
switches and lights – enough to and faces; the crackle of
characters on the citizen’s band trains 2,500 students annually at
radio; having an office with a their twelve locations in mid and
view (even if the view is of a north Atlantic states. Major
smelly chemical plant in New carriers woo and serenade
Jersey); the prestige of graduates of PTDI approved
possessing the highest driver schools.
qualification attainable; the
trucker’s jargon and camaraderie “PTDI schools provide great base
amongst fellow “Kings of the training and excellent general
Road.” knowledge” says Rick Etinger, mid
northeast regional manager for
Also, I love trucks. The diesel Werner Enterprises, employing
beats out a soothing, rhythmic twelve thousand drivers in North
pulse. She helps me meditate America. Etinger’s hour long
about what is and what should be, recruiting presentation to Smith
as an endless stream of highway and Solomon students aims to
signs, exit ramps and panoramic solve driver shortages with
views blur by. promises of more pay through the
best technology. Werner’s oldest
TRAINING FOR TRUCKING truck is two and a half years
old, says Etinger. “With our
With the anticipation of early satellite communication, we keep
explorers bobbing in the ocean the wheels rolling so you make
awaiting the new world, I found more money.” Werner team drivers
myself at Smith and Solomon, a can log as many as 24,000 miles
Professional Truck Driver (that's four round trips to
Institute member academy in New California from the east coast)
Castle, Delaware. According to each month.
Jim Bennett, Regional Director of
Operations, Smith and Solomon Before we even sat in a big rig,
classroom studies filled our contemplating the course work.
first week. We studied: pre-trip “Just do the class work. It’s
inspections; driving technique; easy after that!” he cheered
regulations; accident prevention enthusiastically, as he floated
and vehicle weight and balance. by on a cushion of air. Buoyed by
Unbelievably, it take twenty-nine preparation and encouragement
chapters to cover all of the from instructors, he’s off with
subjects. Then there are Federal General Manager and instructor
Regulations that affect truckers. Bill Applegate, 47, for a road
Regulations read like an test at the Department of Motor
insurance policy: six hundred Vehicles. "Seventy five percent
forty pages of fine print. But of Smith and Solomon students
when one is in charge of a pass their driving test on the
seventy-five foot long vehicle, first try," says Bennett.
it only makes sense that there
are some rules of operation, no IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
matter how arduous.
Gripping the steering wheel, my
Sensing discouragement amongst stomach churns in anticipation.
the students with a difficult Instructor Jim Larson, 59, tells
driving exercise, instructor me to drive forward between cones
Frank Marino of Philadelphia in the training lot, then back
quips: "There are no idiots, just the tractor-trailer up. Through
new drivers. Nobody was born expert coaching and
behind the wheel of a truck. encouragement, Jim’s ten years of
Maybe conceived there, but not over-the-road experience pay off.
born there." The class chuckles Next we try the more challenging
and the mood lightens. parallel and forty-five degree
parking. Students hit cones like
A fellow student saw me crazy. By breaking each step
down, then stopping and setting about contents being stolen from
up for the next step, we start to truck stops or while in New York
resemble the pros soaring City traffic. Students are
gracefully around shopping center impressed with the responsibility
loading docks every day. of their duty transporting
freight.
There's more to driving a
tractor-trailer than rolling in a Automobile brakes are inspected
rig down the highway:"When the on the state-mandated annual
gear doesn't engage, let the inspection, or maybe just when
clutch out a little until it the vehicle is titled.
starts to engage, then push the Conversely, a truck's brakes are
clutch back in," Larson offers. inspected before every trip.
Gear shifting technique is an Brake lines, the compressor,
entire course section. "When slack adjusters, the low pressure
backing up, steer toward the warning system and the air
trailer (as seen in the mirror) governor cut-out are all tested
if it gets out of line." by the driver. Being able to test
(and demonstrate for state police
When we practiced turning, weight-station and road side
backing up or driving, Marino inspections) are just a small
barks in his thick Philly accent part of a driver's routine
over the growl of the duties.
turbo-charged diesel: "The
trailer is your money maker. The There are strict federal
truck is just something to hold regulations governing how many
onto when you drive. Watch your hours of service and driving a
trailer!" Marino goes onto advise driver may perform before
the students how to prevent theft mandatory breaks. The driver gets
from or of the trailer with tales paid for the miles he drives, not
his breaks. scenic highway strike, call a
PTDI member school to learn more.
Learning about the operation of a See you on the road, good buddy!
big rig enabled me to better
appreciate the skill, sacrifice For more information:
and dedication of tractor-trailer drivers. Without interstate size="-2">http://www.PTDI.orgtruckers, our country would grind nt>
to a halt. To understand, inspect and safely operate an 80,000 size="-2">http://www.BigRigPhotos
pound combination vehicle greatly .com
bolstered my confidence as a motor vehicle operator. size="-2">http://www.WashingtonPo
stFeatures.com
Should a siren's song from some
About the Author:
Bruce Andrew Peters is an internationally published, award-winning photojournalist based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit: http://www.GreatWriteUp.com or http://www.BigRigPhotos.com
Read more articles by: Bruce Andrew Peters
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