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CDL – New Rules – Meidcal & Certification
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I had a CDL in California for about 20 years and drove a semi for a few of those years. I live in Florida now and I only have the regular license, but I too wonder in amazement that anyone can just write the check and hit the road in one of these 45,000 pound rigs without any training whatsoever!
“If nothing else every single Prevost driver would
benefit from having to clearly understand how their air brake system
works and why it is important to at least do a simple brake check before
driving”Jon, how do you do the pre trip brake check on a Prevost?
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Georges,
You do a pre-trip brake inspection exactly the same way you do on a truck.
I may be out of sequence, but the gist of the check is as follows.
Air up the coach. Block the tires so the coach cannot roll. Release the emergency brake and note the pressure drops, then stops dropping. Observe that the pressure does not drop. There is an allowable pressure loss per minute that I have to guess is around 1 or 2 PSI. That actual value can be found in any state motor vehicle test manual for commercial vehicles.
Next apply the service brakes and hold them. Again, observe a pressure drop and then the pressure stops dropping. A pressure loss of X PSI per minute is allowed. With regard to pressure loss I don’t want any. If you saw my driveway you would understand.
Once it is determined the emergency and service brakes are acceptable, fan the brakes and observe when the audible and visual warnings come on. That will be around 60 or so PSI. Continue to fan the brakes until the emergency brake knob pops up to indicate the spring brakes are now employed. Start the engine and observe the time to raise the brake system pressure. Again there is a standard that is in the commercial manual. It will be a couple of minutes at full engine RPM. That is likely not necessary because if you go to high idle you will build air well within the standard.
Remove the wheel blocks and you are ready to drive.
Keep in mind I am going by memory so the commercial driver’s test manual is the standard, not what I described which is close but may not be totally accurate.
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Here’s where I insert my foot in my mouth (again), but if you have been driving your coach and have not known of the previously described procedure you would benefit greatly from at least gaining the practical knowledge required to drive such a large vehicle.
In the commercial driver manuals you will also find an excellent pre trip inspection procedure that goes beyond brakes. Not all translates to a bus because on trucks there is a lot of visiblity, but there are things we can all benefit from learning and practicing to keep us and other drivers around us safe.
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