Truck driving is a high-demand, high-stress occupation. Transport companies are continually recruiting for new and replacement drivers. The potential rewards of driving are great, with high earnings and eventual ownership of one’s own rig. On the flip-side, the price paid by drivers in time on the road, time away from families and friends, is a heavy one. But some recruits into the industry will manage to find the right balance and the willpower to endure. For these select few, a very lucrative career stretches ahead on the open road. The first step always is driver training and qualification for a commercial driver’s license (CDL).
Obtaining a CDL in Illinois requires a full educational course in both drivings of the big rigs and the logistical and legal issues faced by drivers. Star Truck Driving School is one such school offering driver training in multiple locations in the Chicagoland area. With facilities placed close to major and secondary cities, students are virtually in the same neighborhood as the school, facing no more than a twenty minute commute from home to the classroom and course.
CDL schools maintain their own fleets of vehicles for hands-on driving instruction. The instructors themselves are either veteran truckers or recruits from the school who opted for a teaching career rather than the life on the highway. The driving instructors will take the students through all the close-in maneuvers on the course involved in the safe management of the vehicle and its trailer.
Classroom instruction involves teaching the specifics of highway safety, traffic laws, road conduct, and the keeping of driving logs, maintenance logs, and the filling out of inspection forms required by state and federal Department of Transportation regulations. Once the course training is completed, instructors will then take their charges out onto the highway. This step is undertaken when the instructor has confidence that the student can handle the training rig in traffic. They will take the student through all the steps involved in final testing by state driving inspectors to finally obtain the CDL. Once legally qualified to drive, the school will usually assist with job placement.
The Website website is a good resource for those curious about a truck driving a career. The page effectively serves as an introductory guide to the typical training services required to qualify for a CDL in Illinois.