BUTTE -- With all the road construction going on and the accidents that occurred, it’s a good thing that we have classes and students like Kobe here that are getting their CDLs, so they can be safe on the road and other motorists can too.
“We not only have to look out for us, but we also have to look out for the other traffic. Other vehicles don’t understand we’re kind of like a moving building out there,” CDL Instructor Jim Dick.
Watch Montana CDL students tackle the challenge of maneuvering massive trucks while learning crucial safety skills
One of these moving buildings damaged the overpass at Bear Canyon Road over Interstate 90 last month, causing a major detour. Highlands College CDL Instructor Jim Dick said avoiding incidents like this is the reason he emphasizes safety in training commercial drivers.
“So, the drivers really need to be concentrating on safety, which, the sad part is, they’re thinking about making money, and it’s making it unsafe,” Dick said.
Over several weeks, students get hands-on experience maneuvering these large rigs in tight spaces. How’d you do, you think?
“Ah, not great, I hit a couple cones, but I’m figuring it out, we’re getting there,” student Cooper Anderson said.
Handling a tractor-trailer takes hours of intense training and practice.
“It’s weird, it’s hard, for sure, I've never driven anything that big. I’ve definitely driven trailers, but it’s a lot different," Anderson said.
The class runs four weeks, but with rigs this large and the safety, the primary concern, it may take longer than that to get a CDL.
“We do not say, ‘okay, at a certain time, you’re done, we’re going to send you out into traffic.’ We do not send you out until we feel confident that you're going to be safe, and you feel confident you're ready to drive,” Dick said.
