NCWriter wrote:
Maybe I misunderstood what I just read. Are you saying you have teenaged kids with learner's permits, and you've begun letting them practice their driving in a Class A on Interstate Highways?
Sorry for any misunderstanding. The driving on the Interstate was in the pick up. Interstate speeds are just too fast for first time MH drivers to be behind the wheel in my view based on my personal experience.
A four lane rural road with two fully paved shoulders is a much safer place for new MH drivers. With 55 MPH speed limits one is OK driving much slower but has to keep eyes peeled for tractors and combines currently.
I had to hit I-57 with only three miles of driving a Class A and it was tense because that was the first MH I had even ridden in and was in for a shock. At 16 I started driving loaded grain trucks but max speed was more like 40-45 MPH due to lack of good brakes back then. Yesterday in 40 MPH cross winds and not having driven the MH in a long time was all I wanted to deal with.
Just getting the sense of handle when driving a box on the back of a one ton truck I think is very important. Coming home in ours I had not been driving but maybe 20 minutes when I came out from under an overpass and got broadsided by a crosswind. That was a new experience for sure. After that I got on our two lane road with nice dirt shoulders and practiced running off the road so in case I did it would not be a first time experience. I learned even a narrow P30 chassis is quite stable if one does not whip the wheel.
As a rule of thumb for the first time loaded truck driver the interstate is not the place to start. Like driving a straight shift the earlier one starts (in the right environment/condition.) driving a loaded truck the better. I am not talking about a cross country trip but locally on non interstate routes in a one ton truck. The advantage of doing it on rural four lane with paved shoulders is there is more room for error without crashing.
