Truckers are taught about road rage situations; Shreveport police …

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — More than likely, you’ve witnessed an act of road rage before.

The last think you want to do is be any where near that person.

Shreveport police offer these tips so as not to inadvertantly trigger an incident.

“Only use your horn in a emergency situation. Horns are designed to be used in cases of emergencies,” police Cpl. Chris Bordelon said.

“Another thing is to be curteous to other drivers on the road. And be a grown-up. If someone’s being mean and giving you mean gestures, you can ignore them.

“Under no circumstances should you pull over on the side of the road and try to confront the other participant in this incident.”

So what about the drivers in that viral video and any and all other truckers with whom we share the roads.

They’re taught in driving schools the consequences of engaging in that sort of dangerous behavior on the roads.

“And our drivers are the safest from any of the schools they hire from in the country,” said Micael Krieg, vice president of operations at Diesel Driving Academy. “So we are confident that we are doing everything we need to do to make sure the students are safe out there.”

The ArkLaTex-based truck-driving school is emphasizing safety while on the roads.

“They have specific orientations that they go through,” Krieg explained. “They teach them all about, you know, handheld devices, road rage, distracted driving, and tell them what they can and can’t do.”

Diesel Driving Academy has been training future truck drivers in Shreveport for decades. They say each driver goes through extensive training before being able to drive the big rigs.

“They have to pass the classroom portion to move foward. And then when they get out here on the range and start backing; they have to pass that before we even let them on the road,” Krieg said. “And then when we take them on the road, we take them to an approved area where there’s not so much traffic. We teach them to shift. And then once they’re ready to move on from there, we take them to more intense situations.”

The advanced program to obtain a commercial driver’s license and pass the driving test takes four months to complete.

“A lot of our student drivers like it because they go out on the roads and their office is their truck,” Krieg said.

The truck-driving academy says they teach future drivers how to stay safe on the roads.

“In the classroom, we do distracted driving, defensive driving. We talk about road rage, we talk about cellphones, we talk about the importance of staying off of those,” Krieg said.

The academy says if drivers are found violating the rules, there are consequences.

“If a driver were to violate that policy on the road, then that’s when a company makes a decision on whether they’re going to write them up, terminate them, move on,” Krieg explained. “But the drivers are trained on what they are supposed to do and not supposed to do.”

Copyright 2023 KSLA. All rights reserved.