PRO CDL Instructor Explains How to Learn Pre-Trip Inspection EASY! - The Driving Academy Podcast

what makes a good driver yeah on how having great judgment be always aware around your vehicle and constantly always look at those mirrors welcome welcome welcome to the next episode of the Driving Academy podcast and today we have somebody in a red vest what does that mean he's come all the way from our training yard he's one of our best instructors that we have his name is Akil James how we doing today my friend pretty good today pretty Lively I'm feeling alive today actually that's what I'd like to see the first time in the studio right first time pretty cool right awesome nice so today we're going to be telling the folks um given us an Insight of what your life looks like here at Driving Academy things like why you want to get to see your license and all that sounds good yeah that's fine perfect so first question why did you want to get your CDL license in the first place well first I started out when I was very young I had a good I had a big passion of getting my CDL just to drive trucks without even knowing the credentials of going about it I just want to have the big old a big imagination on just driving a big vehicle in a big old world and see how it is were you one of those kids constantly going like this to the trucks to have them honk their horn at times but also was that kid was just scared to do it yeah that's fair yeah I was I was the same way the trucks definitely from a kid's point of view is something that's just magnificent right so now that you're actually driving them is it all you thought it was going to be yours and more is it less what what are you thinking about when it comes to the trucks now well now it feels like I'm a full-blown um I'm full-blown owner like a very great achievement able to operate a big vehicle like this yes is this is something still amazing at times just a hard times and it's good times but the best time is is really having a good time that your main passion is just driving the the skies there's no limit to the sky that's right yeah and now I'm sure you can do things with trucks that you never thought were Possible Oh and there's plenty of things out there that could happen yeah so one of the cool things that Q is our instructor and um I've seen this guy maneuver vehicles and spots that are like this tiny and the skill set has come over time so let's talk about that um you were actually a student here a while back right yes he's doing a Driving Academy and you kind of went through the process what made you want to choose Driving Academy versus other other schools what we'll find is the the main part of it is the curriculum that was actually very helpful for them to start all the way to the end okay there's some stumble steps but it's more about keeping the dedication and keeping your main goal in your mind even go through the whole process fair enough other than that still there's no limit to the sky once you get through that one stepping stone nice so when it comes to getting your CDL license for the people who don't know there is a two-step process step number one you first have to pass a few written tests to get yourself CDL permit did you pass those tests the first time uh general knowledge I have failed that one time the other two passed on their first try nice good so and then you went through that portion and then you went to go get your permit once you had the permit then we had to get ready to pass the road test right yep now that road test has split into three different parts first part is the inspection which is a kill's favorite part now it wasn't always right uh second part is going to be parking and then third part's gonna be driving on the road so now that you're an actual instructor here do you know the difference between good students and bad students oh it comes so easy like second nature it's almost like knowing your own two children so every student that comes in you could tell the potential of what did you call that potential drive to even success to make it successfully or you could tell us you could tell the students that's going to have a hard time and you're going to keep on going over and over so make it harder for them and you'll know this what usually within a day or so my experience of being here in Driving Academy I could really tell that on the first day first date well there's never going to be a good student or a bad student so let's go through the actual um criteria what would be a good student so say they're looking hey they want to be a student here or another school what are some skills that they could do to actually make sure that they wind up passing the test on the first time the higher chance for the passing in the first time is the fact that they have to be more insertive more excellent a whole lot of questions in and out it could be about the test itself or it could actually talk about real life situations to give them better Insight how to truck Maneuvers how it works how we'll break down what's the domino effect of how it works cool and what comes out to you so be being an instructor you got to guide them through this whole process right yeah so if you put yourself back when you're a student would you say you're a good student or a bad student I'll consider myself pretty average I want to say the best one I could say I'm somewhat close to the bad side but I'm still dedicated to get what I need to know fair enough cool um when you're a student here if I remember correctly it did take you a few times to pass your road test is that correct yep that's correct what part did you keep failing uh for your road test itself um on the test is more of the pre-trip the pre-trip inspection and that is where most people do wind up failing if they do fail their road test now why is the pre-trip inspection so difficult to pass is the way that you honestly look at the pre-trip itself while you're studying when you sit there and look at the whole entire truck as one it's harder to remember every single little word even though it repeats itself but once you start breaking it down in your mind it becomes a lot more easier and the process becomes through a lot faster so how does Driving Academy help people out with that right because if you are right for people who don't know what the pre-trip inspection is it's actually inspecting over 90 items on the entire inside and outside of the vehicle so what it kills saying is if you look at the whole truck as one big part it makes a lot more difficult because it's so much information the kind of stuff in your mind so what does Driving Academy do to try to help students out in that case with with me and the rest of my instructors we all basically say that we always try to help them to have them understand what part individually what you're looking for break everything down nice and simple once did everything be more complicated it's harder to remember more simple every process become easy so we've created a kind of a work uh word by word script that people can follow and we kind of Chunk that down into different sections so it's much easier for them to understand right yes perfect so um go back to when you first should and when you took your first test a lot of students do get nervous were you nervous on your first test uh very much so and how did you get past that by the time I get past it what my little tricks are I just sit there take a whole lot of deep breaths at a time and also chewed gum right before I took the test okay so before they called me up and took my test I threw the gum out take one more deep breath and just went right through the whole entire thing is completely zoned to examine her out nice okay perfect so and then by that time you're ready to rock and roll yep rock and roll like the same way as I study in the yard like I'm by myself is the same way I did it at the test the same way okay so it doesn't make no nervous doesn't change up my words and does it make me space out or forget anything I didn't say that I have to say so when students are actually in the yard training one of the things that I'm sure you hear all the time is oh I'll start at the pre-trip at home it's okay that's the easy part what it is somebody for your advice for people who think that my advice is is pretty funny you can study it at home but everything is a lot easier when you see the vehicle right in front of you because when you point and touch like you're supposed to it helps you remember exactly what you gotta say is good and most of the time for my experience I don't know about yours most people who say I'll study at home they never really do and they wind up failing the test anyway right that's correct cool 90 of the time do you fail does just because of that that's right especially if there's having that idea I'm just going to say from home so a lot of people are worried hey these are big trucks that really don't know how to maneuver them I need to spend more time parking uh when I'm in the training yard not so much time doing inspection is it true where if they don't pass the inspection they won't even be able to park the truck oh that is true so you can be the best unlicensed driver out there yep and that's pretty ridiculous very very much so how do we get students ready here at Driving Academy to prepare them for the parking itself so they can kind of calm down what are different techniques and stuff that we do here at in Driving Academy the main techniques it is is actually more times you get out of the truck and see where your vehicle is going is it better view than it is seen one way while you're sitting inside so you actually want students to from the inside to stop the vehicle if they don't know what's happening get outside soon then they can check from the outside yes and what does that actually do to the student itself it will basically help them to help them improve their uh their Vision well precision help their precision and they understand which way directions that the vehicle is actually going even if it's already Bend into an angle okay so if it wasn't being an angle they could think that because soon as you feel nervous is because that one side that you that you cannot see the trailer at all that's when you become nervous that's the one why I tell them gotta come out and look and make sure where you're at yes that trailer blocks all blocks everything that you need to see if you can't see it that means you can hit something yeah if you can't see the goal the thing is get out and look um get let's teach these people like for instance backing up a tractor trailer straight is that easy is that hard for somebody who's never done it for someone I completely don't never done it before they see it is moderate difficult okay and what makes it so difficult is more of that it depends if you're not looking at their mirrors they don't know where your trailer go in there goes a lot of Damages but now it's more like I always compared it or make it seem to their students it's almost like you wake up every morning you look in the mirror clean your face brush your teeth same thing in your truck you're going to rely on your mirrors mirror shows you everything that's true what is the actual technique for backing up straight for people who don't even understand is it the same thing as a car so they just hold the steering wheel straight and back up and things are okay oh no it's totally different really totally different the way the best way so the best way you want to learn how to straight line back I always put it as that steering wheel is exactly like a clock one hand only gonna use one hand put it right on top of the steering wheel where it says 12 o'clock when you see that trim is slightly going to the left you want to turn the wheel nine o'clock which is only a quarter turn Okay and then you're going to hold it there until you see a difference once you see a difference you realize it's straight you want to put your hand right back at 12 o'clock so you can stay straight because once you start seeing that trailer going off to your right other than going to nine o'clock you want to turn at three o'clock the quarter turning to the opposite so well the same side of the trailer is going perfect and if they do that then the vehicle will always do a little bit of the snake move but it will back up straight nice and straight and it does not just holding the steering wheel so even if they have because we hear it all the time oh I drove box trucks in the past it's going to be easy it's completely different than driving a box truck completely different so unless you have actual tractor trailer experience uh you probably don't know how to back up a vehicle straight that is correct cool so uh from getting your CDL license with us you didn't just jump into being an instructor you actually went out there into the real world as well right uh what was that experience like what were some of the coolest Parts about driving it uh driving out in the real world what were some of the parts where it was kind of like a little bit scary or nerve-wracking so the best part about the driving part is that you get to see a bigger range of the world that you haven't been before there's a lot of streets out there I drove for a whole entire year I can't say I'm just saying everything out there if I've seen it good enough to where I could stay safe yes so now but that's the best part of it but the only bad part about it when you realize certain signs that you have never seen before that's when you're going to start double guessing yourself so like certain things like weight limit like some some people don't know the actual weight limit you don't even know how much weight you got to carry correct so there goes a big difference a lot of people don't know what's the difference of four tons 10 tons which ones which vehicle is allowed to go on that road now for people who don't understand one ton is about 2 000 pounds and what akil's talking about is when it comes to the actual weight limits on streets if you actually drive an overweight limit vehicle that fine if you get caught can be thousands and thousands of dollars thousands uh so that could be your whole month your whole a couple months worth salary gone because you made a wrong turn now you also mentioned before like GPS's can get kind of tricky where you can't always trust GPS do you have any stories to tell to tell the audience here oh man GPS will be well it could be a good friend but not your best friend that's why I'll put the GPS for so the GPS wise GPS can't really figure out exactly what our truck routes okay so that's when it becomes the scariest when you can't tell the difference of the GPS so the GPS is going to tell you to go down a four-ton Road you look at it and you're new I will always say avoid the signs more than that GPS correct GPS will always reroute till you get to that point you might be a little late might be okay depends on who you're working for but that GPS it could get you close to that destination but it won't get you directly to that destination because you got to watch the science right at the end they it's not automatic trucks you gotta have the driver make the decisions yeah cool so we've already known if you follow the GPS you might be spending a couple thousand dollars on that mistake that's you've never you've never had to pay that kind of money did you nope and now so after that expansion came back to uh being an instructor here what made you want to be an instructor I know the fact that you love teaching definitely helps out you hear that from the students all the time where they see your passion and they see how much you actually love what you do but from your own words why did you want to be an instructor why are you still instructed with us now well right now the reason why I came back well personal things is more of the living situation because the PA is not really meant for um like a family thing it's more like a retirement State okay so working wise was great personal life it kind of sucked well kind of bad so other than that when I moved back I'll look at her job certain things it didn't really meet meet my uh micro to what I'm looking for so instead of wasting time and trying to look and look and look why not give back to the scene why not give back to the students the help where the instructors before me helped me out true so I came back trying to show the love back to the world and see more drivers out there be more successful what's the feeling like when you actually trained somebody and they wound up passing and they come back and give you a hug and buy you some lunch and all that and that's got to be like one of the best feelings in the world right that was one of the best that's one of the best feelings I could say it kind of matches up with my passion even driver wow it's almost the same thing because you know you touch that person's life forever and I'll never forget about you yep I give I already know for a fact that the skills that I transfer into the students and you come back shake my hand hug and all that stuff I already know that everybody be the next best driver out there that's most safest one and what makes a good driver let's kind of finish up there what makes a good driver yeah on how having great judgment be always aware around your vehicle and constantly always look at those mirrors okay and obey the speed limit sign as much as possible correct those are the main four things I could believe would make you a good driver good anything outside of that chain domino effect and I really do not wish the worst for anybody out there for that moment correct because these things can weigh up to 80 000 pounds when you're fully loaded right so going 80 80 000 pound vehicle going 75 miles an hour down the highway can be pretty dangerous if you don't know what you're doing correct so when it comes to students who are about to take their tests what are some advice that you usually give students who are here at Driving Academy well I always tell the students is always be aware of every single little thing that you see anything that you do is not necessary will be wrong but at the same time for the rules and regulations of a CDL everything was worn up being your fault correct so your judgment got to be way better than anybody else be well rested eat properly and prepare for whatever is going for you ahead of you on our road perfect yes now you are a little bit biased to this last question and that is why should students come to Driving Academy versus somebody that's some other school if they want to get their CDL license if you want to come down to Driving Academy we about to be the smoothest ones are able to teach you and under make you understand every single little thing in and outside of the vehicle that's mean that'll be the main idea a nice smooth simple process as long as you follow it because as long as you follow and be dedicated to what you came here for and acts 100 million questions is the only way to get you successful and give you more knowledge as much as now as I have beautiful so if you want to see a key Leo and his team in the yard and you want to get trained by the best instructors in the entire world then you definitely have to come to Driving Academy to get yourself that CDL license that you're after you could be like a kill and get your license even if it takes you a few times we have our guaranteed training courses where we can guarantee that we get your license by giving you unlimited attempts at the road test itself or uh and you can go and drive or you can become an instructor potentially with us a lot of our instructors now have been students of ours in the past and they just kind of want to come back and kind of fulfill on the same promise that that you have well so I have a lot of instructors who've never been students so you get a good mixture of both but all of our instructors have a good amount of experience behind them so they can get you ready to pass that road test the very first time but the thing that we can't do for you and to kill a lot of people have asked them hey Akio can you just take the test for me that's something we don't do so at the end day we can only take you half of the way there you got to show up the rest of the way right that is correct all right cool so if you're looking to get yourself on your road to Freedom with the CDL license come here at Driving Academy our mission is to help a million people do that and for you to find out more information just go to our website at CDL drivingacademy.com or give our team a call at 908-525-3609 so we'll definitely be able to help you out and get you on that road to Freedom thank you very much Akil and we'll see you on the next one if you want to see a kill in person all you gotta do is come in sign up and let's get it rocking thanks have a good one guys hey thank you so much for watching this video if you like it make sure you hit that like button also subscribe to our channel it's really going to help us out click on that button and if you want to continue yourself on your road to Freedom here's more videos to watch there's endless amounts hopefully we get to see each other one day very soon thanks foreign [Music]

Channel: Driving Academy | CDL Truck Driving School

Views: 25,887

Keywords: CDL, truck, trucker, trucking, drive, driver, driving, license, tractor, trailer, tractor-trailer, road, test, road test, box truck, bus, commercial, drivers, commercial license, commercial vehicle, training, CDL training, CDL school, truck school, truck training, driver training

Id: PzNLGIUp1zg

Length: 19min 50sec (1190 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 21 2022