Tractor Trailers free essay sample

February 2013 Learning something new can be a very scary experience. One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do was to learn how to drive a tractor-trailer. Truck driving has been in my family for generations. Since I was a young child I always knew I wanted to be able to drive tractor-trailers. I spent a large portion of my childhood around big trucks and have always found driving such a large vehicle to be exciting. I decided that learning how to drive tractor-trailers was a valuable skill to learn and also to maybe carry on the family legacy of truck driver. The biggest reason I wanted to learn however, was simply because I thought it was fun and I enjoyed it. I never wanted it to be a full-time job, but it could be a skill that I could always have to fall back on. What I never realized is just how hard it was going to be to learn to drive and how much more there was to learn other than just driving. We will write a custom essay sample on Tractor Trailers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I remember watching my father and my uncle’s drive and they made it look so easy. I thought it would be like driving a car, but I was certainly wrong about that, I had no idea what I was about to get myself into. I was about to turn 18 years old and not only getting ready to graduate high school but also getting ready to learn how to drive tractor-trailers. There was so much more to learning how to drive tractor-trailers than I thought. I always knew that I had to get a commercial driver license, which is a special license to drive large vehicles, but I never realized how much information that was required to know. There are three separate parts to the commercial drivers license test. The written test, the pre and post inspection test, and of course the road test. The way it went was each section has to be completed prior to Martin2 moving on to the next. The written test was to be completed first. This was the easiest for part for me, it was very similar to a regular driving test. There is a driving manual with all the traffic laws and all the technical rules that come along with driving commercial vehicles. I was going for a Class A CDL, which is tractor-trailers. It was simple, I studied the manual for a couple weeks and I took the test and I not only passed, but I got a perfect score. It helped that there were quite a few multiple-choice questions. I remember being so excited that day because I had been the same day I received all my final grades for my last semester and knew that I was officially done with high school. However, thinking back on the situation I think I became overconfident from my success on the written test because what was to follow was certainly harder than I ever could have imagined. Secondly, came the pre and post inspection tests. These tests were hard for me because of all the parts of the tractor and trailer that had to inspected. I had some basic knowledge of tractor-trailers, but certainly not as much as I needed to know. I remember looking at the lists of areas and specific parts of the tractor-trailer that needed to be inspected and being very intimidated. Nonetheless, I knew from that start that it was going to be a challenge so for a couple of weeks every chance I got I would be studying my fathers tractor-trailer. I would get up early before my father went to work. I would come home early from school. I would sieze every opportunity had to study every single part on that list. One night I actually stayed up so late that I overslept the next morning and missed my graduation practice. Worst part about that was I got a detention for a non-excused absence. I didn’t mind though because it just gave me more time to study. It had been over two weeks of studying that truck and I felt that there was no more that I could do to prepare myself for the test. The next day after school my father and I drove the big rig up to Concord, NH to the Division of Martin 3 Motor Vehicles headquarters. The pre and post inpection and the road test must be done here. The written test can be taken at any local DMV branch. I was a nervous wreck, I just wanted to pass so bad. The test was very strict, not even one error was allowed so I had to be perfect. However, hard work always pays off and I was able to achieve another perfect score. I remember being so happy and relieved at the same time. I knew how hard I worked and the amount of time that I inevested in studying for this test. Now that I had two perfect scores with one more test to go, it was time to go back to work. Now it was time for the road test. For me, getting to this part was a reward for passing the previous two because I considered the actual driving to be the easiest part. Although not legally, I had already been driving since I was 14 years old. I would always go one trips with my father when I had school vacation or whenever I had any exteneded period of free time. He loved teaching me how to drive, I remember having so much fun going on these trips with him. When we would get on the inter-state highways he would let me drive. It allowed me to get a sense of how to control the truck. The better I got he would let me drive on more curvy roads and also at slower speeds so I could practice shifting through the gears. Down-shifting through the gears was the hardest part for me. There is a technique called â€Å"double clutching† that is used to downshift, and it is very hard to master. However, practice makes perfect, it only took a few days for me to master that technique. It was now time to make the trip to Concord to take the road test. I was not nearly as nervous this time because I was so confident in my driving that I knew I had no need to worry. My father and I pulled into the DMV and out came the instructor. He climbed into the truck, my father climbed out, and the test began. I passed the test with no errors and once again I got a perfect score. That meant I Martin 4 passed the entire CDL exam with a perfect score, an achievement not done very often. I remember the instructor telling me that and him saying that at age 18 I was already one of the better driver’s he had seen. It was now official, I was a certified Class A Commercial Truck Driver. It had been about a two month journey and it was now done. It was such special time in my life, not only did I just get a CDL, but I was a week away from graduating high school. The sense of accomplishment had never been higher to that point in my life. I was ready to enter the next chapter of my life. I remember growing up, and all the cliches I would hear about life such as,â€Å"Practice makes perfect†, â€Å"Hard work always pays off†, and â€Å"Never give up†. I never realized just how true these cliches really are. I worked so hard be able to aquire a CDL, there were times that I wanted to give up but I knew that I just had to keep going. I learned a lot about myself while going through that whole process. The determination and perseverance that I showed made me realize I can do anything if I really work for it. The life-lessons that I learned will carry on on for the rest of my life