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debandi's avatar
debandi
Explorer
Mar 03, 2018

What we did today.

After reading information about licensing requirements for motor home owner/drivers in TEXAS we decided to take the plunge and gets our non-CDL class B license.
We took the written test (20 questions) and the driving test (About 20 miles) and passed.
DPS was very helpful in telling us our requirements and administering the tests.
  • I just went to the corner and watched the light change, after I had a headon collision in a Prius with a lady in a Hyundai which in itself is a Korean cuss word I think. She turned in front of me, I 1st started to swerve R but she kept coming so I went L, her never looking and I hit her R-R headlight, bounced off, went down her rear door and into a tree. For once I am glad for antiskid as I wouldn't have been able to steer. May have totaled the Prius but the airbags didn't deploy and kill me luckily.
  • We tested at the new DPS place in New Braunfels, TX. That would be exit 193 from I-35.
  • You only have to study the last chapter or so (maybe 20 pages). It's all complete non-sense and has nothing at all to do with safely driving a 26,000+ pound RV. The written test is the same non-sense like in what year did they require tail lights, how far off the ground must lights be installed, if you are driving a farm tractor on the highway, are headlights required, what color lights are required on the read roof of a vehicle? Then you take the road test which is driving down some side streets, going on and off and on ramp and backing the RV 40 feet in a straight line. I have heard that some required that you parallel park the RV but that was not a requirement when I took the drive.
  • You probably lucked out if you found a DL office that really knew what the non-CDL is supposed to entail. The one I went too were confused on what is included on the driving test. One thought the air brake test was required, the other said it is not, another didn't know. One said certain paperwork is required to be carried, the other said it is not. There were a few other things also but minor. Each just kinda did their own thing. DPS Austin headquarters might have known but it depends on who you ask. The wife and I both got ours but it was a chore to get the people on the right page in understanding which chapters of the CDL actually apply. That was the worst part of the test.