New team driver

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by zmpart, May 21, 2013.

  1. zmpart

    zmpart Light Load Member

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    Nov 27, 2010
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    Greetings

    My wife and I recently began teaming. She is struggling with sleeping while in motion. We have taken lots of suggestions from different posts here, memory foam mattress, body pillow, ear plugs, eye mask, but she still finds it hard. I dont really listen to the radio while driving, and i do all the over night driving, but she stilll really struggles. i keep telling her that i think it takes time to adjust but does any one who has had a similiar experience have any more advice or thoughts on how long it takes to really get it down? are we talking weeks or months? i know here is the possibility that she just cant do it, as some just never can but any thoughts are appreciated.

    Thanks
     
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  3. STexan

    STexan Road Train Member

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    You've tried to address all of the issues that are not the core of the problem. The problem is the movement and constant jostling ... of which there is nothing you can do but give it time to become accustomed to it. A week? a month? 6 months? No way of knowing. She get's tired enough, she'll sleep. She may not wake rested but it's a start.
     
    bigkev1115 Thanks this.
  4. TruckerPete1990

    TruckerPete1990 Road Train Member

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  5. Allow Me.

    Allow Me. Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Each person adjusts indivually, if they can. This is a big issue in trucking, erractic sleep. This is why you see drivers that are 45 yrs old, BUT, they look like they're 60, with weather beaten faces and some hard miles on their bodies. This is trucking. Even team drivers can sometimes get a solid 4 hrs if they can schedule the truck stopping and still make their delivery.
     
  6. DirtyBob

    DirtyBob Road Train Member

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    It really just depends. When I was teaming it'd kind of go back and forth as far as how well I could sleep. One month I'd sleep like a baby every time, the next month I couldn't sleep at all. Usually it had more to do with what was going through my head at the time then anything. If I had a lot on my mind it was hard for me to unwind and go to sleep.

    Do you guys have a TV in the truck? For me it'd help to watch TV when I went to sleep during the times I was having trouble sleeping. Some people can't sleep with a TV on so it's just another case of it depends on the person. Another trick I'd use was sitting in the jump seat until I was pretty much falling asleep. I don't know why, but sitting in the jump seat just makes me want to go to sleep most of the time.
     
  7. STexan

    STexan Road Train Member

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    The truck makes a lot of difference too but there's not much you can do about that short of borrowing $150k and taking the owner-operator plunge, to get a true owner-operator truck that rides good on all sorts of roads.

    The FHSA keeps trying to figure why there are so many "fatigue" related accidents, and then say "ok, we need to impose more stringent rules on HOS", when the problem of fatigued driving is too often attributable to a driver who is part of a team, and who can't sleep worth a crap due to the facts the OP mentions. The idea some (a fraction) of the freight needs to move 22 hours a day is what is messing it up for the entire industry. And this concept of "teaming-training" is not a safe or good combination but it is being implemented far too much. I don't care if those [carriers] who do this, try and tell me otherwise.
     
  8. 77fib77

    77fib77 Road Train Member

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    Shift smoothly, turn with no gs.
     
  9. 77fib77

    77fib77 Road Train Member

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    I had one team driver who drove smooth and another who sucked. World of difference in rest.
     
  10. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    My buddy has been driving 30 years and has that problem. When he goes to the sleeper now he drinks Nyquil then sleeps like a baby.
     
  11. papanuge

    papanuge Light Load Member

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    Hypnosis might solve your problem, it did mine. Two sessions and now I am able to do it to myself and I can sleep anywhere, anytime, for any length of time and wake refreshed. Most of the time I will wake before the alarm goes of by a few minutes. They teach you how to totally relax and to program your brain to sleep under any condition.
     
    donkeyshow72 Thanks this.
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