Heavy rigid vehicles are the ones with three or more axles and a gross vehicle mass greater than 8 tons (8,000 kg). Now, there are a lot of jobs that require you to have a heavy rigid license. This means that by getting a license, you’ll open up a lot of new career opportunities. Other than being fully qualified to be a truck driver, you’ll also be able to drive a waste removal truck, a bus, a construction truck, as well as be in charge of interstate haulage. With all of this in mind and without further ado, here are a couple of tips for those who want to get a heavy rigid license.
1. Inquire about the skill and experience of instructors
What kind of experience do your instructors have? You can ask this question the first time you contact the school to inquire about your enrollment. Later on, during the lessons, you can start the conversation with your instructor. You see, while driving is a skill and, technically, anyone who has a driver’s license can teach others, what you want is someone with years (ideally even decades) of driving experience. Seeing as how we’re talking about heavy rigid lessons, what you want is someone who was a professional trucker in the past.
2. Commit to the learning process
The next thing you need to take into consideration is the learning process itself. What does this mean? Well, first of all, while you need a heavy rigid license in order to drive a truck, this is just a means to an end. It’s far more important that you embrace all the skills that are necessary for the task at hand. So, make sure to be 100% focused on the lesson and that you ask your instructor about anything that might interest/concern you. Remember, you’re not doing this just for the license, you’re also trying to learn something important.
3. Talk about the essentials
While learning how to drive, you might also want to inquire about an additional topic or two. For instance, you want a couple of safety vehicle tips. You also want to know a thing or two about fuel consumption and how your own driving habits can reduce it. Next, while someone else is likely going to be in charge of the maintenance, what you really want is to know at least a couple of basic things in order to help you out. Just remember, these are quite easy to adopt later on but the sooner you know the better.
4. Job placement history
When choosing a driving school where you’ll earn your truck driving license, what you need to inquire about is their job placement history. You see, like with any other school, this one probably has a reputation. The best way to determine its reputation is to figure out what kind of job its students got after they got their licenses. Remember, this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get the same rank of job. After all, you might even go on to be an owner-operator. However, what you are looking for is the quality of education that you’ll receive.
5. Make sure that you’re great with directions
While GPS is a great piece of technology, the truth is that you can’t rely on it 100%. It doesn’t even have to be its fault; you may just miss click something and get led astray on your own. Remember that before you head out, you want to memorize the map. This way, even if GPS starts malfunctioning, you will be able to recognize it. Also, whenever you have the chance to do so, you might want to ask a local. This is probably the most reliable mean of navigation. So, while you want to use a GPS, when possible, this shouldn’t be your one and only solution to every navigation problem.
6. Work on your focus
This is a lot of hard work. You see, truckers drive for countless hours, in all types of climate conditions, sometimes even driving during the night. This is why you need to be focused at all times. When choosing a driving school, make sure that you have an instructor who will put an emphasis on alertness. You need someone who will monitor not just your response times but also your behavior during the drive. They should notify you if your eyes stray off the road, etc. Moreover, being a truck driver might require one or two lifestyle changes.
In conclusion
The last thing you need to understand is that getting your heavy rigid license is not easy, even though the process is not that long and the cost of enrollment is not particularly high. Once you get your license, you’ll be legally allowed to operate some of the largest, heaviest land-faring vehicles out there. This is why it’s such a serious matter and why you need to be responsible about it.
