Methods to keep awake + alert

Rest one eye at a time while driving never rest both at same time while driving.

 

This side of slamming your sausage in the door, nothing replaces sleep. You can not control it, when your body gets tired it is going to shut down. Tired, pull over don't wait for a truckstop, better to be off date than not at all.

 

Covering both ears while driving is dangerous and illegal in most states

 

In the old days, we used to talk to each other on a device known as a can radio.but there doesn't seem to be anyone out there any more.good luck with that.

 

these days a lot of drivers go around without even owning a cb, some who do have them dont even seem to turn them on half the time. I remember being little and the cb's were active, both my parents were truck drivers in the 80's and I remember always hearing people talking, my dad even had a base station with a very large antenna etc on the roof and would talk to people in other towns.

 

Be careful of relying on increasing caffeine intake to stay awake. Habituation can result in caffeine becoming a depressant rather than a stimulant. If you find that you are feeling less alert or even tired or nodding off when drinking caffeine, then you may have reached a stage of habituation that will require you to quit all caffeine intake for up to a week. Once you have "reset" your body you can resume using caffeine as a stimulant.

 

I always have something to drink, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through my shift I'll have an energy drink (I do it later in the shift so when I crash I'm already getting ready to bring it in, me and my codriver will also play music, and sing along if we suspect the other ones asleep (I caught him singing paradise city at the top of his lungs one night, he caught me singing along to baby got back more then once) I'm a heavy sleeper and he sleeps with ear buds in, so we can make as much noise as we want usually, also I will attempt to talk to other drivers on the cb, and I found that snacking on fruit such as a bananna helps too, but there are those days when you are just too tired and need to sleep, so you pull it over

 

Everyone with any miles has experienced "highway hypnosis". The first thing you need to understand is that there is nothing in evolutionary history that has equipped the human brain for travel at speeds exceeding 3 mph. Millions of years of watching for sticks and sharp rocks to avoid has hardwired the brain to concentrate 3 feet ahead, so the white lines act upon it like the hypnotist's watch. This is part of the reason drivers are advised to "keep the eyes moving", they naturally fall to looking 3 feet ahead.

Next you have to learn to recognize when you're "tired", and the symptoms of microsleep. Being awake and alert are 2 different things. There is no substitute for rest. "Concentrating", if you happen to be among the few who recognize "driving" as requiring significant concentration, is exhausting. No one would expect you to read a book without a lapse of concentration, for 4 hours. Truck driving, where lives are at stake, is exempt from logic and reason, so it's up to you.

The next thing you must learn are the 3 magic words: "I didn't see". These will literally make you immune to prosecution for most negligence involving operating a motor vehicle, including falling asleep at the wheel, if you survive the crash.

 

Scratching and hair-pulling if necessary, and loud name calling, always makes me arrive . . . at my destination.

No, umm seriously. Mental stimulation - phone conversation, interesting radio program, . . . and stop for that break every 6-8 hours or so.

 

Rest , rest , rest , rest, rest , rest , rest , rest , you starting to see a pattern ......nothing , absolutely nothing can replace it/take over for it/augment it....nothing. If you get tired...STOP , at the next place it's safe to do so....don't try to fight sleep....IT WILL WIN....Lots of folks say , I go til I "nod" the 1st time......that's really dangerous , no telling how many times you "nodded " and didn't realize it. It's a pain sometimes , but always , always the best thing to do..stopping that is..call the receiver and let them know you will be late as well as your dispatcher/DM...let 'em rant....let 'em scream.... let 'em threaten to fire you....BUT DO NOT LET 'EM TALK YOU INTO DRIVING TOO TIRED.....even if they do fire you...better to be UN-employed than either dead , or in court facing the family of the folks that you killed by going to sleep......