Is it hard to drive a Truck?

That's awesome

 

I'm in trucking right now. Trust me it's not as easy as it seems. The permit is easy, the pre trip is easy. The backing is the toughest. Downshifting and doing gears aint that bad jist gotta get use to it. The straight backing easy, off set is in between and the 90 is hard af!

 

The easiest driving is going down the interstate at highway speed....cruise is on, all you are doing is steering....after 3 or 4 hours you are looking for a break.....you pull off onto an exit for your break. You finish your break and get back onto the interstate for another 4 or 5 hours.

During the last 2 or 3 hours you notice you are getting tired. You keep pushing on because you are not that far from your destination. Finally, after being on the road for 10 hours you reach your exit ramp that will get you onto the local roads. You hit rush hour traffic and it takes you almost an hour to get to your warehouse. You only have 10 minutes of driving time left, before you have to park your rig for 10 hours.

You get a dock assignment and you have trucks on both sides of you to back between, and it is now night time. It takes you several pull ups to get lined up, and you have to get out and look each time, as it is much more difficult to back in when it is dark, as you just can't see much in the dark.

It takes a couple of hours to get unloaded, and you have been looking at your google maps to find a place to park for 10 hours, as you can't park at the receiver.

There is no place you can find within 10 minutes driving time to park. It is dark, you are tired, and you have not found a place to park your truck for 10 hours. What will you do?

Next scenario: You are driving a Peterbuilt that is 10 years old. You have the cruise on, and you tap the brakes to take the cruise off, and to slow down. But the cruise does not shut off, no matter how many times you hit the brakes. What do you do? (This actually happened to me, so there is an answer that works.)

Driving the truck can be learned in 12 weeks at a cdl school. Backing is the biggest challenge for new truck drivers.....the more you practice the better you get. The same is true with shifting.
You will learn all the basics needed to get your cdl in school. It's the things you don't learn in cdl school that you will have to learn on the job.

 

Dude, wait until you get on the road with crap truck drivers, that's the hardest part, not getting into an accident or trying to beat them when you get stuck behind one at a fuel isle and he decides to take a shower.

 

The driving part is easy, I would rather drive my truck than a car... The other stuff... Long hours, wild backing situations, obnoxious A Holes coming from you at every turn, phone rings in the middle of the night right when you really started sawing logs... Sure, easy driving a truck, it is the rest of the BS that ruins it. And then we have the government...

 

And the upcoming winter with snow should be fun...... with the idiots out here. Be safe, guys.

 

A monkey can drive it. Or a computer robot can drive it. The actual driving is not difficult. Espeically in today's automatic plush palaces appointed and furnished with every luxury you could ever want. Literally push button trucking hold the wheel for 11 hours and go get some rest do it again tomorrow.

The reason we humans need learning and experience to drive a 18 wheeler is physics. And human nature displayed by car drivers who always seem to screw up basic good driving and get in the way of a 18 wheeler about to crush them and kill everyone inside the car. That is where YOU the driver has to earn your pay to avoid such a mess. And still get to where you are sent to on time, to the minute or hour of a assigned date appointment time.

Driving is easy. It's everything else that is hard. Trip planning, Fuel management, Paperwork, compliance with permits, Licensing, customs, tolls, weights and forumlas capacity of tanks, chaining and securement of flats and temperature management of reefers along with a mind numbing variety possible in a dry van all the way up to massive heavy haul righteous by gawd 200 ton transformer that will help keep Baltimore in heat and light once you get it to where it needs to be safely.

Trucking is the life blood of our Nation, our way of life and indeed our very ability to remain alive and able to enjoy life with the material goods by which Truckers deliver day and night year after decades after centuries. No one else in this World does trucking like we do.

Until such point that humans become flawed, redundant and otherwise a liability against potential profits and revenue with wrecks, damage and other preventable problems that sometimes kill innocent people, hurt people and perhaps bankrupts a company. Because the human trucker screwed it up again. And again and again.

No wonder we are seeing a push towards Robots because we refuse to be the best we need to be as professional drivers.

Does that make sense?

 

Well,Honestly YES...for the 1st few years.These are tips.Take any driver(thats been driving for 10 years) and if theyre not a dedicated linehaul driver...I Guarantee you(they have made a Ton of mistakes,and poor judgementand...basically been in several bad situations...chased their trailer around with a sweaty head,trying to back in,bumped some gates,took down some cable lines,spent 45 minutesbacking out of a No truck route in New Jersey etc.This stuff always happens.Anyway if you dont get fired and practice,practice...eventually you seldom make these mistakes.After a while Yes,youll hog both lanes in a roundabout,sit at a light till cars clear to make a nearly impossible tight turn,Experienced driver basically just means youve been in every possible situation and made it thru it.Maybe the right way(maybe the wrong way),but you still have a license and a job.Thats the key,protect your CDL and dont do unsafe things(like driving over your head).As far as tips 1: Scope out a place..(Before you get in there and cant get turned around.Realize ((How big your truck really is).This includes getting your trailer tandems way to the left side of the lot(right when you turn in.Might not be room to if you wait till youre in the lot.Try to keep both sides of your trailer in the mirrors when backing..and Get out and Look if need be. 3: Utitlize (ALL OF THE ROOM YOU CAN) YOU MAY NEED IT.YES,you could have made that turn,if you would have just went a foot wider? Dont miss your turn and (end up in a Brady Bunch neighborhood. 4: Your "initial setting up" for a back in,Will Make or Break you.I and several others on here,can go into a 60 foot lot and back right in(nary a pullup).Why? Because,our initial setup,STARTS BEFORE we even enter the lot.We dont just drive Way over to the left..Oh,Geez now no room to swing the tractor around.5: Learn to "PUSH THE TRAILER IN THE HOLE".,BY keeping the tractor "Under the trailer". This gives you needed tractor room(After you clear the curb). 5 AVOID BLINDSIDE BACKING WHENEVER FEASIble.I could go on and on..as long as youre always thinking and planning ahead youll become "experienced",and eventually you know what to do and how to react (because youve had this scenario in front of you before.You Never want to become "Complacent".Learning never stops.Im still learning better ways to do stuff.JMO

 

^^^^ Despite how the 'courts' decide, I still stand firm that 4 wheelers should be educated in DRIVING THE SAME HIGHWAYS as we do. Look at all the school, tests, endorsements, pretrips, backing tests WE go thru................to share the roads with.... : STUPIDITY!
Watch: Maniac motorist cuts in front of two semis to make exit, strikes car hauler

 

Excellent post, man. Excellent. Well said. Very.