Afraid of Falling Asleep at the Wheel. What do you guys do about this?

Honestly? When I'm tired, I sleep. If I get tired during a load (pretty rare), I file a late report, pull over and sleep. Only one pencil pushing desk jockey has challenged me on it. My answer was "driver fatique. Contact safety department if you have a problem." Never heard another word about it.....

 

don,t forget about fuel,loading, and unloading. adds to ur 14

 

I usually do a 11-12 hour break at night instead of the 10. Give me plenty of time to goof around and still get 7-8 hours of sleep.

If I do start getting tired during the day I'll just stop more often and walk around. Sometimes taking another shower part way through the day helps me wake up. Other times it's a nice warm cup of coffee and a sandwich. If it gets to the point that I am having to stop more than once an hour because I'm tired I'll just hop in bed and take a couple hour nap to recharge.

Other things that help are listening to talk radio or RoadDog on SiriusXM. Even if the topic isn't of particular interest to me it can help because the conversation makes me start thinking and helps to wake me up.

If I wake up in the morning and just did not get enough sleep I'll simply go back to bed for another hour or 2 if I've got extra time on the load. I usually plan and extra 2 hours into my delivery time for things like needing a nap or unexpected road closures.

I also will never tell my company I'm available to pick up a load between 11PM and 7AM. Those are my normal sleep hours and driving during that time is just asking for trouble for me. I used to work second shift before driving and I still sleep and work a similar schedule to then.

In the end it all comes down to your own sleep schedule. If you are too tired to safely drive then you need to pull over and take a nap.

 

not if you do it while doing your pre or post trip which ever you choose to log...



American Trucker

 

i get out and walk at a rest area splash water on my face sunflower seeds is good to like the other person said. You should start considering coffee maybe. Id stay away from those pills at the truck stops and if you re still tired just park for the night and communicate with dispatch.

 

I didn't read the replies, but I will say that if your tired you need to sleep, sometimes an hour nap can help tremendously. If you are on Electronic logs and your going to be late because your load is "hot" don't worry about it, there's nothing more important than you and other motorists's lives. There's drivers wrecking their trucks every day because they fall asleep at the wheel due to there E-log telling them when they can and cannot sleep, but you need to be smart enough to realize when it's time to take a nap and not jeopardize safety due to a stupid load on a truck...I promise that load can wait.

Think about it next time you see a truck in the ditch of median with no other vehicles around...it's not worth it, take a nap and drive when your not so tired.

 

Park the Effing Truck! That simple... park the truck. Don't take a chance killing someone else, I may be on the raod with you that night and I don't want to die because you are tired!

 

Everyone that says park the truck is right.. Your dispatcher is going to give you crap about it... but at least he/she will be able to question you and not a police/autopsy report.. If your company gives you to much crap call the safety department and let them know what is going on they will fix it... The real problem now (for me anyway) is finding a place to park that is safe.. I refuse to park on the shoulder or on/off ramps..Use common sense don't allow that computer to drive for you be a professional trucker not a trained monkey holding a steering wheel.

 

lots of good advice on here, just gets some ******sleep

 

I sing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Loud to myself ,,, untill,,,,,,,,I can get back to a place to take a quick 30 minute power nap. If you are tired,,,,,,, lay down plan and simple. No excuses.