Some truck driving schools should pay more attention to road safety than its profit margin. Just ask Eric LaManque. "If you drive so many hours and are inexperienced, trucks are dangerous. I am surprised that more accidents don't happen," he says.
LaManque attended Swift Truck Driving School and decided that trucking is a very dangerous profession. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), about 6,000 truck drivers a year die in highway accidents.
What isn't reported is how many of these accidents are a result of poor truck driver training. Chances are there is another vehicle involved in these truck accidents, usually with fatal results, such as [this] tragic accident ]we recently reported.
With 10 schools throughout the US, Swift is the largest school in the country, pumping out about 100 students per week per school. The company heavily recruits people; for a minimum $2,000 in tuition, students are promised jobs. Conveniently, Swift is also a trucking company. Even with a fleet of 16,000 trucks, there still isn't enough jobs for this many students.
"After six weeks of training, you get your license, " says LaManque. "Then Swift gives you a free bus ride from Wichita, Kansas to Memphis, Tennesse. You have to share a room with four other guys in a hotel owned by Swift, until you go on the road with a driver trainer. Most of these guys [who have taken the course] are desperately looking for work and they have spent their savings or owe their tuition to Swift, with interest," says LaManque.
"After you get your license, they want you to quit [because there aren't enough positions available and Swift cannot meet its obligation]. One driver I trained with told me he had 18 people that he had trained over a period of a few years. Only one person was hired by Swift."
Not only are jobs far and few between, Swift clearly doesn't put safety first.
"You drive in dangerous conditions. Right away I drove 11 hours the first night. They try to avoid paying fees on toll roads so we drive secondary roads. Last year the icy conditions in Oklahoma were terrible. I passed at least four trucks on the road that had gone in the ditch. My diabetic trainer was asleep: he had taken several medications for back pain and he told me to pull over at a specific rest stop down highway.
" I approached the rest stop and it was sheer ice so I drove slowly. At the top of the ramp was another truck, stuck. We were behind and couldn't go anywhere on the incline. My trainer started yelling at me, 'You shouldn't have gone here, get outa my truck.'
"He kicked me out! He was going to leave me at the side of the road and I didn't even have a warm jacket. Right after that, the truck in front of us pulled ahead, so my truck started driving off but he stopped at the last minute and let me back in. He drove me to Edwardsville, Kansas, the regional base of Swift. He didn't apologize; he just said ' I lost it' ".
Talk about road rage! Once at the base, Swift got LaManque another trainer driver. This time he drove across the US, "cross-country driving", but realized in just a few weeks that "this wasn't the job for me."
LaManque had had a childhood accident and had a weak eye. It hadn't affected him until driving long hauls all night long.
Clearly, Swift is more concerned with getting students' tuition than checking on students' medical backgrounds and getting them jobs. "They lie to you," says LaManque. "You make friends in driving school and hear stories. One guy from Cuba was desperate, and Swift promised him all this money, $50,000 per year and more," says LaManque. But he didn't get a job. "Most companies won't hire you without experience and they generally pay $10 per hour."
Back in 1993, [consumerlawpage] reported on false advertising by trucking schools and included a statement by The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warning the public not to believe recruitment ads by certain truck driving schools. Clearly, it is time for another evaluation.
LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION
Truck Driving School: a Dangerous Scam?
| . By Jane Mundy |
Resources
[Submit a complaint] regarding Ohio Truck Accidents.
If you would attended Swift Trucking School and would like to register a complaint, please fill out this [form]
If you would attended Swift Trucking School and would like to register a complaint, please fill out this [form]
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READER COMMENTS
Dudey
on
Almost all CDL schools are a fraud, they train you just enough to pass the CDL test and lie to you about 70% of the time. Your not ready to hit the road.
Schnieder, Werner, CRST... are all using new and inexperienced drivers to drive for nothing. On average, you will make about $400-$600 per week for 80 hr work. They know you are desperate and treat you like shit.
You will eat the worst food in truck stops, smell badly, not take showers, and generally become anti-social since you will be driving 3-7 weeks away from home.
To summarize it: Its not worth it. You are giving up your life, family, friends, and health just to make less then minimum wage. Nobody respects you, and shipper/receivers treat you like shit. Sometimes they don't even let you use their restroom. If you last more then 2 years, you might be able to go local. 80% of the people that I trained with quit within the first 6 months.
Deborah Tucker
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TR
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are pulling things out from underneath, their chair to be quite frank.I never liked jobs and I don't have to have 1 if I don't want to. The problem is that many of them are only doing the selling and then bringing someone in to their facility. After arriving there,
the new applicant will sign papers, go to orientation, then be put
up with a trainer or be put in as truck if they have what the company calls experience. Experience is expensive no matter what. It comes by making mistakes , and many are so innerged,
that they forget why they brought the student (trainee) in, in
the 1st place. They quit before the fact, and then get any when someone needs to know something specific, and then fires the
individual on the spot after being questioned as to why they are they there. You know? The only main issue here is that because
DEBT was a major factor on the US dollar, it's prevalent companies are pulling the same action due to the US dollar being debt. But brainwashing people and then making them angry because the so
called managers aren't even experienced enough or they don't have a mindset to understand what it is they have to go through. Though you don't have to drive the Truck or be a mechanic to go into the Trucking business , what you have to
be good at , is be good with people , you have to find an attitude
based person who is willing to put in the time and effort to learn , not be the individual who must be right , these know all the right answers they went to school , you can't tell them anything. This is not good because their minds are too set.
Another is 1 who must be comfortable. The house can be on fire, these people are toast because the world is passing them by and you shouldn't talk to them. They get mad at you for disturbing them. 3rd person is someone who must be liked.
You know they want to please everybody. Example: I did the right thing didn't I?, you like me don't you?
Anybody who appears desperate like that "where they are" is the type of person 'people can stay away' from. Even in the Trucking schools where they get nasty (in your face), will post up fake statements about somebody based on the freedom of speech act and blow up the preconceived notions. Like California and MA. The only reason I am posting this up is because there are people who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
I'll give you a list of Trucking Companies with a bad reputation.
Swift , Cr England , Navajo Express , Celadon Group , Schneider National , Maverick , JB Hunt , Covenant transport , Eagle Motor Lines , Moskowitz Motor , US Xpress Ent , NOTE: remember,
WERNER ENT bought the QC Logging system to prevent issues.
Yet someone had to do that. because it was available.
Werner Ent Law goes into effect very soon. So be aware of that part. The reason is because Trucking companies cannot be trusted to do what is needed to make the system work. And being lazy minded will not work either. Paperless logs are the future, period! Don't argue against it. That includes no more TransFlo (TR) TRIPAK Express, and any others thereof. The only payment method will be electronic and that will not change.
Crete , and numerous others that are getting involved with
things being complicit with the banks of WS. Now I'm not against them , see that's where part of it comes from.
Almost 50% of Trucking Companies will never come clean and that's why they are falling down and will never get out of
the problems they brought on themselves. When the day finally comes they cannot do they 90's way of making money, they will have to make a choice as to wether or not they will actually
cleanup or get out of business. And end up with nothing. Seriously. There are certain companies who have been looking at this industry for a long time and there are businesses who will never be accepted in some other business due to trust issues. That is the person themselves and the ads which don't tell much and being shady at the same time.
I would also like to get on a radio program to talk about different topics. But mainly health ones that will help other people to help themselves.
TR.
Joana
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juan tavares
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josh baker
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Kris pyle
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Jeremey Hicks
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Contact me by email at .. jeremeystephenhicks@gmail.com with a brief synopsis of your situation and I will return communication accordingly. Thanks for helping former students scammed by this 'school' unite together for an attempt to compensate the victims as a whole as well as an accompanying attempt to return monies received by the school in the form of grants in our names back to the U.S. Dept. Of Education.
Sincerely looking for student victims,
Jeremey Hicks
jeremeystephenhicks@gmail.com
Zay Harrison
on
I was recruited by Swift out of school and spent nearly two years with the company. My training with my Swift trainer was 7 weeks long and very comprehensive. I had been behind the wheel of tractor trailers 17 weeks when I was given my first truck solo and by no means was I ready. But at some point you have to be aware that you have a job that requires you to be overly cautious, safe, mindful and responsible. Every Professional Driver feels this way at some point as a very green Rookie.
My dispatcher and team were helpful, insightful and very good to me, working me just enough to make a good living without tiring me out and making me a road hazard.
I enjoyed my time at Swift, was asked to become a trainer with them, which I declined, and I became a very excellent professional with now, nearly 10 years later, over one million safe miles under my belt.
Swift often gets a bad reputation because they, like Werner and others, are TRAINING COMPANIES. This means they are dealing with people who actually believe they can drive a truck after only training for 3-10 weeks.
This in NOT a realistic scenario, which is why you are placed with a trainer for 6 or more weeks, who assess your skill level and the ability to be safe, trip plan and the ten thousand other things that go hand in hand with being a Professional Driver.
Truck driving is NOT for everyone. For every 100 people who go to truck driving school, only 10 of them will succeed as a driver. Out of that 10, only one of them will stay on the road longer than 5 years. There is a reason there is a huge shortage of Professional, Competent Drivers on the road.
The trucking industry has had to lower its standards to meet the demand. 250,000 drivers are desperately needed in this country. And these days they will take anyone who will step up into the cab and take a seat.
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU BELONG THERE.
It is a hard life. Away from home for weeks at a time, you must be self reliant and a motivated self starter. You must be comfortable enough in your own skin to actually like your solitude. Because you will be alone, thousands of miles away from home, working Thanksgiving and Christmas, Fourth of July, with no one for company but the waitress stuck working the crappy shift and maybe one or two old timers and other rookies who are out there with you.
You will not get to bathe as often as you like and you will see people in cars doing incredibly stupid and dangerous things behind the wheel of a car.
It will be YOUR responsibility to keep them safe.
If you are not up to ANY of these challenges, Do Not Become a Truck Driver.
Swift is a great company, and they reimbursed me for my tuition, which was 6200 dollars. Every complaint I have ever heard about Swift has been due to the fact that trucking just didn't suit the individual doing the complaining and they washed out of the school or the lifestyle for one reason or another. Do your homework, don't take any shortcuts, and stop thinking you know how to drive a tractor trailer after 3 weeks of classwork just to pass your test.
Theresa Saling
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Samm
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JOHN COBB
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AIT is nothing but a collection Agency.
Ronnie
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Rob Jones
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Shannon Dion
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Melissa Irby
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Ronald
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