Having trouble driving at night

You get used to it as time goes on but it's hard to run a schedule you're not used to no matter which way it is. I'm the opposite, it's hard for me to run during the day. I get much more tired in the daylight.

If you know somewhat in advance you'll be running at night try to stay up the night before if possible so your body will want to sleep during the day since you've been up too long. That doesn't always work out though between either not knowing when you're going to get loaded or not being able to stay awake after a long shift.

You made the right move by stopping though. If anyone ever gives you crap about stopping, ask them if they'd rather have the load late or pick up the load from a ditch.

 

As others have said, you will get more accustomed to the irregular hours and sleep schedule. One thing you won't get accustomed to is OOS orders. Based on your statement you were on duty no less than 18 consecutive hours. An additional 2 hours in the sleeper could have stopped your 14 hour clock, your 6 hours in the sleeper does not. Just sayin.

 

D'oh!

I'd be expecting a call from safety before too long.

 

Just run I-40 in Arkansas. That will keep you awake. Sometimes if you have a smooth ride, you need a bouncy road to shake the crap outta ya.

 

I40 in New Mexico will too.

 

I've been driving since '84 and still can't get good deep sleep in a running truck or next to a loud reefer or my loud generator.

Humans are still creatures of God and aren't evolved to sleep in such noisy, vibrating environments. Although when suffering extreme fatigue one will argue that they sleep better with truck running. I say try earplugs instead of running a 600 hp white noise generator and polluting my air.

 

somedays i can not sleep very good and still drive all night with out ever feeling tired other days i can be well rested hit 4 am and im driving down the road with the window down heavy metal blairing to keep me alert and then ill feel great a couple hours later normaly around the time the sun starts to rise. there are times ill just shut it down for thoughs couple of hours the sun rising will wake me anyway and that 2-3 hours of sleep i can wake up feeling like i just got a full nites sleep. i try to run as meany daylight hours as i can as i sleep alot more soundly when its night time than i do durring the day. 3 hours of sleep before sunrise and i feel better than 6 hours of sleep durring daylight hours. somtimes conditions dont allow you to sleep at night but whenever its my choice i all get my sleep in durring dark hours.

 

Join crst, i met a girl at the TA in Ontario who said she doesn't drive at night, her partner drives at night and in the daytime she might go until 9pm then shuts the truck down, if it's not time for him to drive yet, oh well, the truck sits until he gets up. Don't know how they ever deliver a load on time but this is what they do.

Whats even stranger she lives in Washington state, him in California, when its time for 4 days of hometime the other driver sits in the truckstop for 4 days and waits for him or her to return without getting paid a dime for this. This year she gets christmas off he will be in a truckstop before, during and after christmas ha ha ha.

 

I sleep as good in the truck as i do at home..the engine running is no problem.
My Serta memory foam 6 inch topper made a huge difference!
I like running at night better.Less traffic and BS to deal with.