160 Driving Academy Review by Darick

Darick 7 days ago

Met with Jennifer, Baytown Branch Manager, on Friday afternoon, and was sitting in the classroom on Monday morning beginning my professional driving careers. Jennifer is always on top of every piece of the entire process to make sure every student progresses through the training, and sets you up for physical, drug screen, and written test appointments with the DMV without delay. She is truly top notch! The 40 hour classroom training was interesting. That made the week go by fast. I took every practice exam on available in the training portal, and was engaged every day on the classroom instruction. I passed all parts of the written exam on the same day, and even passed the tanker endorsement. The 120 hour training at the yard was also a very exciting and fun experience. Interacting with the instructors, whom are all expert drivers with many years of experience, was the best. They each shared their many real life experiences… the good, the bad, and the ugly! I got a lot of valuable insight about how to use my skills to think and work through many different issues that may arise while on the road. On top of that, they all knew the entire curriculum very well. We were taught how to conduct a thorough pre-trip inspection, and were tested many times. I can sing the pre-trip inspection my sleep to any tune that you would like to hear. They teach you how to complete the range skills maneuvers, and are always testing your progression. The road training was equally excellent. All of the instructors have more patience than the Pope, and are always calm in every situation. They know when to let you work through a problem and when they need to step in to help. Mr G, the training lead at the HOU2 yard runs a tight school. He gives every instructor and student their marching orders both morning and afternoon in order to facilitate a comprehensive training schedule every day. He rotates instructors around each group of students, and pairs the students perfectly to achieve quality learning. Although Mr G is busy running the yard, he will not hesitate to step in and personally show you how to master every piece of the training. All of the instructors are very much expert drivers! Mr Cordell, Mr Harold, Mr Ozzie, and Mr Danny each have their own unique way of teaching, and are all very effective at teaching new drivers. Safety is always top priority at all times! They teach safety, they practice safety. We even had spur of the moment safety stand-down meetings when Mr G would see a pattern of unsafe acts that students were not aware of what they were doing. You would hear the whistles blow and the instructors pointing to the outside meeting area. Everyone knew to shut down the trucks and muster to hear what Mr G had to say, and what he had to say was always valuable. I can’t say enough good things about my experience. I got my CDL, and enjoyed every minute of the training process.