Anyone ever allow someone to ride along?

I do not! Murphy wouldn't approve .

 

Absolutely not. If you want to truck, make it happen. If you are so nervous or timid or afraid or indecisive or whatever it is, this probably isn’t the job for you.

 

LOL nope, never pushed it that far!!!!

 

Are you the someone that wants to ride along to find out what trucking is like?

At Swift I don't think it mattered who the person was, they just had to get approved by filling out the proper paperwork to get them insured.
The cost would be a weekly expense to the driver, but it was not a high amount.
That would be if you were riding along with a company driver.
Any rider that is not approved and thus insured, even setting foot inside the truck, is cause for immediate termination of the driver.

It's a good idea to be a passenger in order to see the lifestyle, if you can find the right person to ride along with.

 

Generally, unless a co-driver or someone from the company, riders are not allowed. Insurance calls the shots there. If an unauthorized person is with you, and something happens, lawyers would be jumping over each other,,more so. We can tell you just about what to expect, but remember, half the drivers starting out, don't make it 6 months, so yes, a "ride along" program would be beneficial, but kind of a loophole. Not to be disrespectful, but if you have to ask, it probably isn't for you. People that make successful truck drivers today don't do it on a whim. They always wanted to be a truck driver, and just have some hoops to go through to be one. I'm not sure what else to tell you, doesn't look too good for the ride along part.

 

I picked up a hitchhiker in a snowstorm once in West Virginia. He was all tweaked out and tried to sell me some used checks from the 90s he found in an abandoned house. He had me drop him off a few miles down the road and then disappeared into the woods lol

 

Our insurance says that "Anyone employed by the company or anyone actively engaged in the furtherance of a specific task that relates directly to the company and is over the age of eighteen may be carried as a passenger in company vehicles". That means a swamper or an equipment operator or a mechanic can ride along if we need them for something.
A waiver (for whatever good they are) is signed before the trip with one copy to the office and one being carried in the truck. Once or twice a year when I clean out the glove boxes I usually throw away a fistful of waivers. Nobody has ever asked me to see one.
Regular passengers are a PITA, they get in the way, ask too many questions, and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

 

Last year it cost my company $175 per person per year for rider insurance.

as of July 1st of this year, that is going to $375 per person per year.

these are non employee riders.

 

No one every wanted to ride with me.

 

Darn that is so wrong, and so funny at the same time.