The first thing you must do when you decide to pursue a truck driving career is get your commercial driver’s license!
If you are about to kick off your truck driving career, the first thing you must do is obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL). This gives you the ability to drive bigger trucks and vehicles versus a regular car. There are different types of CDL’s depending on which type of commercial vehicle you want to drive. Here are the three commercial driver’s license classifications.
Endorsements
Before we go into the classes of commercial driver’s licenses, it is important to mention that you can obtain endorsements for your license that will broaden the scope of what vehicles you can drive. Endorsements require you to take tests to obtain them and include things like being able to drive a double or triple trailer, driving vehicles with hazardous materials, being able to drive school buses, and more.
Class A
The classes are distinguished by a number of factors, but the biggest one is the vehicle’s gross weight. A class A commercial driver’s license allows you to operate any combination of vehicles with a gross weight of 26,001 pounds or more. This is as long as the vehicle you’re towing weights more than 10,000 pounds alone. Some vehicles you may be able to drive with a class A license, depending on what endorsements you have, are tractor-trailers, truck and trailer combinations, and tanker vehicles.
Class B
A class B commercial driver’s license allows you to drive a single vehicle with a gross weight of 26,000 pounds or more. It also allows you to drive a vehicle that is towing another vehicle weighing up to 10,000 pounds. With the right endorsements, some of the vehicles you may be able to operate with a class B license are large buses, box trucks, segmented buses, and dump trucks with small trailers attached.
Class C
You need a class C commercial driver’s license if the vehicle you want to drive doesn’t fit the criteria of class A or class B. In addition, the vehicle must be needed to transport at least 16 passengers or contain hazardous material on them. With a class C license, you could drive small hazardous material vehicles, passenger vans, and any combination vehicle that isn’t specified in the other classes.
Baltimore Freightliner-Western For All Your Trucking Needs
Whether you are looking to upgrade your fleet to tow trucks or simply interested in the latest trucking technology, you can rely on Baltimore Freightliner-Western Star. We have provided top-notch service for the trucking industry for 30 years and would love to assist you in buying a new top-of-the-line truck, finding the specialty parts you need, or repairing your truck. Give us a call toll-free at 800-832-7278 or locally at 410-685-4474, or contact us online. To find out more about what we are up to, follow us on Facebook,Twitter,Pinterest, and Google+.
Tags: commercial driver's license, truck driving career, trucking lifestyle