I think something needs to be done about the knot head drivers out there. Recently Clackamas county did a sting here by putting officers in 18 wheelers on the freeway. In 4 days they made nearly 400 stops, issuing about 350 citations. And yeah, some of them were truckers themselves but most were 4 wheeled rigs. Two things struck me about that. One was the officers were completely surprised by the bonehead moves drivers made in front of 18 wheelers. Guess they haven't been watching very close. MY brother was nearly run off the road by a driver a couple days ago when she passed him without enough room. Virtually no shoulders on either side and he said I don't how we managed to not collide since they all met right at his drivers. Three rigs across a narrow two lane highway. The other thing that struck me, but was not surprising, was the gentlemen interviewed after crossing three lanes in front of an 18 wheeler to take an exit. He had absolutely no clue. In fact, he looked to me like he was driving in La La land by the look on his face when questioned about it by the TV crew.

This is the kind of people on the road out there. If you don't believe me, spend just ONE day in an 18 wheeler in any metropolitan area and you will get an education, This is the kind of drivers most people are out there and I could tell dozens more like this. Like the guy that ADMITTED intentionally trying to hit me in my PW just because he wanted the place in traffic that I was in. I was just staring at him as he rattled on and thought "I could plug you right between the eyes with a 44 mag and the world would never miss you." I wouldn't do that of course, but the thought did cross my mind.

My point is there are some very good drivers out there but I think they are a minority. Most of them have no idea what is going on. My wife pulls a jet ski trailer and wants to borrow her son's little hoopie trailer to haul bicycles because she doesn't like driving the Ram. She can no more back them up than the man in the moon. When she takes the ski out she has to find someone else to back the trailer up for her. She THINKS she does good but I can't stand to ride with her. Half the time she is more worried about her cell phone than driving. I can multi task she tells me. I tell her, yeah you can but you can't give 100% to either one and driving is a 100% job. For some reason that goes nowhere.

So, yeah, I would think there should be some kind of regulation. Sorry for the rant but it is one of my pet peeves.

 

Russ
if they would continue that practice they could either balance the state budget or remove 3/4 of the traffic from the roads in a big hurry.

 

Some of the blame goes to sales people as well. They frequently will tell someone that such and such a vehicle is adequate for pulling such and such a trailer- when it's woefully inadequate!

Wouldn't be a bad idea to have everyone have to haul something to pass a test for a basic license. Maybe that would stop some of the idiots who do stupid things to those of us who are towing- because they don't know any better, as well as idiots who tow without knowledge!

Case in point- I was hauling three horses, doing about 45mph, when a car pulled out in front of me- less than 50ft away. That leaves me little choice- hit the car, slam on the brakes and risk injury to my animals, or try to find a way around. I am hoping the driver found new respect for the weight and stopping distance of a heavy rig when I pulled up on his left spewing dirt and rocks as I slowly braked. It could've been his rear end I used for braking!

 

I would love to see them do that on a regular basis.

 

Does a CDL make a good driver or does he get the experience after he has the license? Before the CDL requirement Alabama allowed anyone with a license to drive a class 8 truck. I really see no difference in drivers now that you have to take a test that requires study to pass, but the study is to pass the test, not drive.

Feeling of the lug nuts that are to be torqued to 500 ft pounds and calling out "lugs tight" is really educational. I see no value in the CDL or an endorsement for trailers, which you already have automatically. Say what you will, but a 70 year old, retiring and purchasing a 44 foot bus for an RV, seems to have little trouble on the road other than upsetting the experienced drivers. And grandma drives half the time.

Even doubles and triples endorsment.... If the driver gets the job pulling them, bet he lears fast the proceedure to hook them up. How many states road test on hooking them up, no, its a multiple choice written test. Same with tankers.

I have a bike endorsment, what does that accomplish? Endorsments are for the insurance companies and the groups that try to get trucks off the road. Until recently in most states, you pick up a girl hitchhiking and she stays with you a while, you let her drive to learn how. No license but legal caus you are with her. Now she has to have a learners permit, but still don't know how to drive.

Many years ago I wanted to drive a semi, I had a friend with an old gas rig and a 40 foot trailer, I borrowed it for the week end and practiced backing. You can't do that now. Government control is simply red tape and money derived from the licensing. Like my CDL, every four years it costs $55 to renew, the guy in front of me pays $5 for the same service, but adding CDL to the top of the license is expensive I guess.

Its all about money, not safety, and you want to add to it?

 

When someone takes a CDL test, they must exemplify some general knowledge of various skills of the most basic. A non-CDL trailer endorsement would similarly accomplish this. It would provide the most basic general knowledge and concepts that most people simply are not aware of in the form of material provided by the DMV. Additionally, one would have to exemplify a basic ability of maneuvering and basic hooking up of a trailer. It's not a cure-all, but it's a start.

Yes, I would pay for that endorsement, even with my CDL. It's a small price to pay for cleaning up the road a little. I certainly won't miss the minimal fee imposed considering what I've already spent to add all the toys and amenities to my vehicles. In fact, I'll pay for mine with part of the untaxed economic stimulus check that uncle sam just gave back to me. Come to think of it, the cost is as if it is free.

I'm certainly not going to profit from this... so, it's not about money. My daughter is out on our roads, so refrain from claiming it is about monetary issues. This is a proactive idea completely.

Nonetheless, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. However, it isn't exactly constructive to the nature of this post. What is your alternative idea?

 

I' m with you on this, something needs to be done, but what I don't know.
I run hotshots and I see some pretty wild driving. Age dosen't seem to matter to much. Young ones are as bad as the older ones. I would like to see some kind of competence test though. You just can't run out and buy a large boat or camper, hook up and head out and not have some instruction. I also think that any trailer that cares over 2K, should have brakes on it. I say that because, I see small trailers all the time that are overloaded. I had a boat that weighed under the required weight for trailer brakes. My 94 chevy Z71 w/towing package didn't stop for nothing. My next boat weighed in at 6500#s. It had dual axles and brakes. WOW, what a differance. I wish the TX DPS would ride along with the truckers down here.

 

"It isn't exactly constructive to the nature of this post" I think it is, the thread was about if we should have to have an endorsement to pull a trailer. I inferred my opinion was no and went on to explain why. If your daughter gets hit by a dummy pulling a trailer and he has an endorsement does that make it better for her?

I don't have an alternative idea, my vote is no endorsement for pulling a trailer under 10,000 pounds and that is what most licenses say on the back. Personally the biggest danger that I have had to deal with on country roads is the bicyclists who by law own the edge of the road regardless if you have room to get by them. Why not an endorsement to the license before allowing one to ride a bike? And then there is four wheelers, where do you want to stop?

 

Now here is the problem. You did not feel that your boat and pickup combination was safe and would stop properly but you drove it anyway. But you are in favor of a law that would make you pay a fine of you got caught driving the same boat and traier. Oh I see it is the other guy that should get the fine. Maybe it would be productive that all boats should go over the weigh stations to get checked. See my point is that there are far too many laws. Too many regualtions. Life used to be fun, then came the law. Each and every thing you do today must be preceeded to find what is legal.

 

Um yeah, in fact they DO own the right to be on the edge of the road, whether you can get by them or not. So do horses and slow moving farm equipment have the same right to be on said road.

I'm agreed on endorsements for heavier trailers only. (and heavier vehicles) You know what I'd like to see is the existing laws enforced. The biggest problem I encounter is the wingnuts that insist on exceeding the speed limit by sometimes as much as 40mph, with a huge camper in tow. Posted 55 or 60mph, yet they insisting on running 90-95mph. No thought about what would happen if they had a tire blow out at that speed etc. Or how they would ever get stopped if they had to. The other one that bugs me is seeing improperly secured loads. That and the same story already mentioned, the small pickup struggling with a 5'er or TT that is grotesquely overweight for the capacity of the truck.

Licensing can be ridiculous. Examole: I used to have a camperized highway coach. I have our version of your Class A CDL, so I had no concern. But my then wife wasn't legal to drive it with the seats in it empty with her regular license, but as soon as it was converted and registered as a motor home, all she needed was an air brake endorsement even though it was MUCH heavier than it was in bus configuration.

 

Yes and even though I am licensed for doubles triples and tankers and I have driven charter bus and school bus as well as city bus for several years, I could not drive a passenger vehicle over 15 passengers as you describe with your wife. Because the last time I tested for my CDL there was no bus available to road test on. When I had the bus experience it was only necessary to have a class b license or equivalent depending on what state.

I used to be into boats in a big way in Long Beach but now am not licensed to operate one, recently came up as my son and I have been boating.

My opinion and I do have that right in America, is that it is all fees and fines and driven by the insurance companies and those who never have operated these vehicles and never will.

When I was a kid we had as part of our anatomy bikes. I could have easily put together a few from parts and did at times. Now helmets and the like. Everything is regulated and over regulated. A kid mowing lawns needs a business license, etc.

All this is part of a bigger legal problem that puts governments out of business at about 200 years. We have hundreds of thousands of officials that have as their main job, writing new laws. No one ever gets rid of them. America has reached a saturation point, too many laws, the society is coming apart through laws and regulation. At some point the populace will rise up and say enough. That is not a good thing but inevitable.

 

I've been driving a big truck for over 10yrs, and don't think a new endorsement will do squat, other than give the gov't more money. Even with CDLs, there are still LOTS of people that have NO business driving a big truck. Can't tell you how many times I've been forced into a different lane or nearly run off of the road by "professional" drivers, a.k.a. steering wheel holders.

But, as said before, you'd be surprised riding with a trucker for a week, to see what we see. Your jaw would hit the ground in disbelief at the stupidity of so many people.

 

Oh yea, requiring an endorsement would really clean up the roads. I mean, we have to take a test to be able to drive and we all know that everyone on the road is very capable. /end sarcasm

Fact of the matter is that requiring an endorsement would really do no good other than cost us more time and money. I see horrible drivers everywhere I go. Most of the big rig drivers are good simply from experience, but I see some horrible horrible semi drivers out there too, and guess what, they passed a test!

I know! After requiring a trailer endorsement, go ahead and make us stop at weigh stations and over run them even more, then make us all fill out log books while we are at it.

 

I got to chime in here, just because...
I started towing trailers when I was 9, working on our farm and all of my buddies farms. Started out, just in the fields, then worked my way up to pulling them on the road, etc...you know the story. I've pulled standard receiver towed trailers, gooseneck trailers, enclosed, open, horse trailers, whatnot. Not saying I'm the best, because I'm not, (Although no one I know personally can tow as well as I can! JK!) Yes, I've seen the idiots out there, with their trailers, loads not secured, trailer not hooked up properly, or my favorite, the trailer so overloaded, and the tongue weight so far off, that their headlights are pointing at the sky! I'm sorry though, I'd have to say I disagree with having to get a license to pull a trailer, just because of the simple fact that it's really a major inconvenience IMO, and I really don't want to have to renew my right to pull a trailer, when I know I know how to properly, and safely. Besides, licensing is really not alllll that effective. If it was, then why are premiums on a 16 year old driver so much higher than a responsible 27 year old? We do licensing in the military, and the Marines have to be licensed to drive the 7 ton trucks. I've got my license, but I know for a fact that I can drive that truck. A lot of the other guys that went through that same course as I did, yeah, they got their endorsement, but I can tell you for a fact that at the end of that course, they still didn't really understand what they were doing. And that's what it boils down to. You have to understand your equipment. You can't just hook up to a trailer and take off down the road. You have to understand the effects it will have on your vehicle, what the conditions of the road and the weather will do to that trailer, and the load itself...is it livestock, is it on wheels, or is it just dead weight? You can't learn that in a licensing test. It's pointless to try and license drivers for trailers, because you'll just have a bunch of idiots that got licensed on a little cheesedick trailer, and then next thing you know, they're out there with a 40 ft gooseneck. just my 2 cents