WORK ETHIC reflects an enjoyment of hard physical work and a habit of using work time efficiently. This section is helpful in predicting how productive a driver will be. For flatbed drivers in an unstructured long-haul environment, those who have higher scores on Work Ethic (as well as on General Knowledge and Flatbed load-handling) tend to drive more miles per day than those with lower scores on these test sections.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS are at a premium in difficult situations which may arise at loading/unloading sites. The driver who can politely talk other people into helping get the truck unloaded and loaded quickly and properly saves time and is assured of a safer trip.

PERSONAL LIFE problems can affect a driver's job performance. The consistently reliable driver has a stable, happy personal life, good mental and physical health, enjoys his trucking career and avoids drug and alcohol abuse. Note: this test section is no substitute for a complete physical exam, including drug and alcohol screen.

SAFETY attitudes, not knowledge, determine whether a driver will use the safety devices and information available to him. For example, a driver may know how to make a safe turn in city traffic, but his safety habits or attitudes will influence whether he actually does make safe turns on a given day. A safer driver will likewise be more cautious when feeling tired or when visibility is poor. While factual knowledge can be taught, it is more difficult to instill in a driver safe attitudes. The safety section measures these attitudes.

LOYALTY is an important employee characteristic. A loyal driver takes direction well and respects both employer rules and policies as well as State and Federal regulations. He or she values honesty and dedication to company goals.

Some of these traits roughly parallel the Big Five personality traits, which are Conscientiousness (Work Ethic), Agreeableness (Communication Skills), Emotional Stability (Personal Life), Extroversion and Intellect or Openness.

How This Test Differs from State and Federal Tests

Oriented toward public safety, State and Federal licensing exams only tap technical knowledge which includes facts, as can be measured with True/False questions like: "Many accidents occur when trucks make right hand turns because of traffic trying to squeeze through on the right," or "A warning device should be placed 100 feet to the rear of a stalled truck."

A driver can score high on tests of technical knowledge and still be an unsafe driver due to personality characteristics unsuitable for the job of driver. In addition, general intelligence can be expected to influence safety, because it aids a driver in many ways, such as recognizing and understanding changing road conditions that require added caution.

Note: Research with many different tests by various researchers has revealed that motor vehicle accidents are caused by several different intelligence and personality traits but not by deficiencies in factual knowledge of driving.

Thus, in order to be a safe driver, a person must have the right personality characteristics, adequate intelligence, and appropriate technical knowledge. Our exam measures intelligence and relevant personality characteristics in addition to the technical knowledge measured by State and Federal exams.  Also, the exam measures a wide variety of load-handling skills not currently measured by State or Federal tests.

A further important difference between our exam and State and Federal tests (including the CDL exam) is that such government licensing tests are designed only to eliminate minimally qualified drivers. By design, to accomplish this task reliably, these tests consist of relatively easy questions and a passing score near the high end of the score range (e.g. 26 out of 30 to pass). The result is elimination of drivers who are grossly unfamiliar with the technical knowledge such tests measure. However, they do not reliably differentiate degrees of skill -- low, average or high -- in drivers who do pass.

In contrast, our exam is designed to reliably differentiate along the entire range of the traits it measures, providing low to high scores for all drivers.

The Importance of Intelligence and Personality

General evidence from the field of psychology indicates that intelligence and personality traits do not change dramatically in adults, even with training. Our research reveals that persons with no prior trucking experience can score well on test sections measuring intelligence and trucker personality.

Thus, the test provides a means of screening for those individuals who have sufficient intelligence and appropriate personality characteristics to succeed in heavy trucking, given adequate training in the necessary technical skills.

Our research has also revealed that intelligence and personality, as measured by the test, change little or none as a result of training in truck driving schools, whereas factual knowledge increases noticeably. Thus, one must screen for school and job applicants whose intelligence and personality scores are adequate, and not expect such traits to increase dramatically with training.

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