Am I being too hard on myself? Keeping good mindset while driving

So, everybody has a 'brain fade' at some time. If you've been driving 500 miles of BAD roads, your chance of making some minor mistake grows. What really separates the 'drivers' from the 'steering wheel holders' is how you react when you screw up. A cool, collected reaction to such minor emergencies will often prevent (or at least minimize) the damage from your distraction. I can remember one specific time I just BARELY managed to avoid jacknifing; I swear it felt like I spent at least 10 seconds riding my rig sideways before I straightened it out. But I managed to avoid hitting anything, by some miracle of luck and driving skill.

I've seen several videos on YouTube of drivers having steer tire blowouts at highway speeds; it seems that about half of all drivers react by doing the WORST possible reaction; hitting the brake. These are the ones who invariably end up on their side, and often in the ditch as well. Those who kept their cool and 'rode it out' sometimes ended up in the weeds, but at least kept their rigs upright.

So, my advice to you is to limit doing dumb things, like picking up your phone, or looking for a kleenex. You phone SHOULD be on a mount, easily visible, and when you sneeze, your sleeve is already there in an emergency.

 

Another thing to add is to be better at doing these random things.

Mount your phone so you can see the time while still seeing the road.

Put a box of tissues so that you know where it is, keep it there, and secure it so it stays there. That way you can reach for a tissue using muscle memory without having to go look for them.

Memorize the controls of your radio so that you can use it with one hand without looking away from the road.

And try to make sure that your in a nice straight stretch of road with no cars beside you when you do things like this. Also, make a concerted effort for pay attention to the road while your doing these things so that you don't get too distracted and lose focus of what's going on ahead. And if you can't do it safely then you might just have to wait until you can.

 

There is a big difference between "being efficient" and "driving hard". Too many drivers equate driving long streches without stopping as being efficient. In the short run, sure. After the 3rd day, a driver is going to be making more "little mistakes" while driving and taking inadvertently longer breaks when they stop.

Not too long ago I had a 2,100 mile out and back with another driver. I stopped 2-3 times a day on the way out while he only stopped for his "30 minute break". First day I was parked 15 minutes before him, second day an hour, third day we had weather through the mountains, so I stayed behind him in case we needed to chain up (he hadn't used chains before), 4 day I was again an hour ahead of him.

On the return trip he left 6 hours before me, because I spotted the trailers for the reload, and it wasn't important to stay close on the return trip. I caught him at the end of day 2, parking 60 miles further down the road. On day 3 I was 150 miles further than him, and at delivery I pulled in 15 minutes before him. I had more time on my 11, 14, and 70 despite stopping more frequently and taking longer dot breaks. Not to mention I got .5 mpg better fuel economy.

The difference was two fold - first I'm more experienced and know how to drive and manage speed for efficiency. Secondly, the more frequent breaks keep me mentally focused so I can do the first part.

Yesterday, I had to drive hard. Wasn't a fan, but that's how the cookie crumbled. Today, I paid the price. Saying focused was a challenge and I shut down 3 hours earlier than I could have in order to get better rest and have an easier tomorrow. Some would say I'm leaving money on the table, but I know there's going to be nothing worthwhile to pick up tomorrow night anyways, so having two medium days is better than 1 hard and 1 easy day.

 

You’re over thinking this. It’s really not that complicated. Whether you’re driving a car or a big rig you’re driving. There may be more gauges to watch but you should be following the same general rules.

Know what you need while driving and keep it within reach. Example: I keep a milk crate on my passenger seat. One of the things I keep in there is tissue. If I need to blow my nose I know exactly where the tissue is because it goes right back in the same place I got it from. Left front corner. I never have to take my eyes off the raid because I don’t have to look for it.

You shouldn’t take your eyes off the road to change the station on your radio. Learn where it is and you don’t have to look.

Pay attention to your body. Stop when it tells you to. One day it may be an hour after you started driving. The next when you’ve been driving for 7:59 mins.

If your trip covers multiple days get most of it out of the way as soon as possible. That way you won’t be stressing about having to rush to be on time if you have a blowout or something.

In the end there are no rules of thumb. Every day is different even if you have run the exact same 350 mile round trip daily for the past 30 years. Something will be different everyday.

 

In northern climates drive a full day when safe to do so . Splitting a trip into 3 short days can burn you when the weather changes.

 

Here are few more ideas.

Get a windshield mount for you phone. Went through 3 of the heavy duty ones the sell at the Pilot/Flying J’s. They are garbage. The gears that tighten down the claw arms that hold your phone strip if you tighten them enough to keep your phone from bouncing. Also, when it gets cold out it doesn’t matter if you have the defrost on full heat or not it’s gonna fall off. I bough one from Walmart. Cheaper and eliminated the problems above.

If you want to listen to music subscribe to Sirrus. It’s only $8-$9 bucks a month but you can’t afford that you’re not making enough money and need a new carrier or career. That way you can set you radio without holding your phone or taking your eyes off the road.

Buy one of those $7 truck stop books. Use it to plan where you’re gonna stop each day. That way you don’t stress about whether you’ll be able to park somewhere at some time. It even lists rest areas.

The post about the weather is very important. Always know what the weather is going to be along your route and when it’s going to hit. I use an app called “Drive Weather”. I highly recommend you download it. It allows you to set waypoints so you can map the weather along your route. There is a feature where you can change day and time so you have a great idea what the weather will be along your route on any given day at any given time. I pay like $15 a year for the enhanced version. Well worth the coin in my opinion.

I’m sure I’ll think of some other stuff later.

 

Also weather isn’t the only reason to try to get as much driving out of the way earlier instead of splitting it up evenly. Traffics is another reason. The other day I was running across I-10. Started out on I-8 in California and ended up south of Tampa.

There were 4 detours along the way. One in Fabens(?), TX then San Antonio, TX another in Slidell, LA then the last one in Mississippi somewhere. All told it added about 9 hours to my trip. If I would have split the days I would have definitely been a day late to my delivery.

 

stay scared until you can own it, under will. calm squirrel is a dead squirrel. you never seen a nervous bull tho

 

Breaks are very important. They might not seem like it, but they are! For example that nice air ride seat of yours is pretty comfortable, but it ain't doing anything for your knees! Your knees and lower leg veins need constant breaks! Take it from somebody who's having the after effects of running 10-16hrs at a time, it will do some bad mojo to your body later on down the line!!