Dump Truck Drivers Are Not Your Average Truck Driver

There is a lot more to driving a dump truck than often meets the eye. One thing is for sure – a dump truck driver is not your average truck driver. Granted, a dump truck driver does need to know how to drive a truck. They do need to know the road rules and meet all the requirements of a general truck driver. It just doesn’t stop there.

If you consider the role of a dump truck driver, they are required to drive from point A to point B with a load, and dump it. Okay you say, a dump truck driver also needs to know how to operate the dump mechanism that tips the tray to dump the load. Whilst this is true, many dump truck drivers need added skills.

One of the most important skills that a dump truck driver requires is the ability to spread a load over a distance. This could be gravel that is evenly spread over a 100 yard stretch of newly formed road. You may have seen these drivers. They start the tilt on the dumper whilst driving at an even speed. The load is spread as the truck moves forward. The skill is knowing how fast to drive and how far to tip the tray.

These skills are developed during your training but it is on the job experience that hones those skills. In the hands of an expert dumper, that load of gravel can spread to the point it looks like a grader has gone over it to smooth it out.

Whilst dump truck driving is a specialist area of truck driving, undertaking truck driver training provides you with the skills and licensing that can open the doors to a wide variety of trucking jobs. These may be long distance haulage or local deliveries; hauling heavy equipment or driving that dumper. Either way, you will have a skill for life and a qualification that can provide employment nationwide.