Scare the Newbie Day

It must be planned, it has to be.  This day is designed to scare the snot of the newbie drivers.  Alot of work is done, including driver’s daily log training, HAZMAT handling and all kinds of other things.  The thing is, everything they talk about has a penalty.  For instance, if you’re hauling HAZMAT and your little procedure book is not in arms reach when you are belted in the seat is a $10,000 fine.  Screwing up your logbook is a huge fine from DOT and quite possibly getting fired by the company.  All in all, everything today had a fine or job loss attached to it - yoiks!

And then, to top it all off, the last few videos are all about crashes.  Not really how to avoid them, but the effect they have.  One video was about a guy who ran a yield sign, t-boned a car and killed a little kid.  It was the story of his remorse and guilt.  Not a word about how to prevent the accident (although it’s rather self diagnosing, don’t run signs.)  Then a video about how they investigate crashes.  No info on avoidance, just what they look for.

I suppose it worked, I have had a healthy respect for the truck since day of my CDL school, but these films really show the responsibility that you have to have to do this.

The one really cool part about today was learning the qualcomm system.  The little gizmo that combines GPS and SatComm.  It’s how the company dispatches you and gets you all your load information.  Even though it was very intriguing, it was tempered by all the downer stuff.

Luckily, the Rib Crib near the hotel had all you can eat ribs every night this month!  Hopefully, tomorrow, I get assigned a trainer and get on the road to start my training month!