Do you have a spouse, GF, BF or kid ride with you?

I guess I'm lucky JJ stops every three hrs so I can go to the bathroom (#### Coffee) and if I need to go before the 3hrs I just tell him the dog has to go LOL. I like to stop at rest area's of a night the bathroom is closer and usually cleaner and if you feel nervous just take the steel flashlight or tire thumper .
Now when you have to have a break outside a shipper or receiver DO NOT drink a thermos of coffee or you will be saying Honey wake up and get out I gotta go Potty and then you empty a water bottle or a bigggggggg soda container.

 

To notarps4me....I will remember that. I am just learning the ropes (as the wife of a driver) and the Do's and Don'ts of the different drivers on the roads. I appreciate all of the helpful tips. Thanks to everyone.

 

SORRY, but I don't see any reason why you'd have to walk to the bathroom alone. At least 9/10 times you should have an offer of someone walking with you. ESPECIALLY at night. I wouldn't want to interrupt his/her needed sleep... so try to go when he/she goes.

After a few days you'll acclimate yourself by drinking fluids at the right time and asking questions about stops. In the summer, I caught up on my thirst/my thirst caught up with me soon after his driving hours were over. If you know you're ride is going to take you hours of "Tin-Buqtu" driving then try not to drink so much before that spell.

For the most part, your driver should know the route and what possibilities & impossibilities lie ahead. TAKE ADANTAGE of stops, force yourself to try and go, even a little might relieve some discomfort if there happens to be a longer wait. If you like to sleep in and don't know what lies ahead, get up during the pretrip/or before and go, and hopefully you can get back to sleep.

There aren't that many loads a driver has that doesn't have to be there, YESTERDAY, so plenty of bathroom time should be allotted.
Yes, I know there are some loads where every minute counts.

Oh, and I forgot to quote truck 4015. If you're driving for MAY you have to have it in writing.

Some companies charge for riders insurance, some don't. Some probably have other rules that vary, like how long you can stay on the truck, age ??

 

Wasn't trying to score points. Flatbedders should have secured their load at the shipper and I seriously doubt they will be climbing on them in a truck stop. Sure they will walk around the trailer and tighten bungee cords and even tighten chains once in a while but climbing on top??? Never seen it once in a truckstop in almost 17 years of driving (then again I wasnt really watching for it either so maybe your right anout flatbedders. Most of the ones I HAVE seen have step ladders they use to climb up and down from the sides as needed usually in the middle of a parking lot).

As for the suggestion about dumping the contents out...I stand by it. I don't like stepping down into a puddle of urine or smelling it when I climb down out of the truck.

I team with my spouse, know quite a few female drivers and have trained females in the past. Safety and security is always a major concern of these ladies. Most of the gals I know will pull onto the fuel island at night and then walk inside to use the restroom. When they are done then they go park the rig.

 

I have a question on this one. What about helpers?

Here is a personal example.

I go out with a forklift on the trailer and the forklift operator rides with me.

 

I could be wrong but I think that regulation is sort of geared towards a driver having guests in the truck that the company doesn't know about. It makes a driver report their passengers to the company so they know about what is going on and such. But if you have a fellow employee of the company riding with you, I don't think you need permission.

 

But how does the DOT officer know that they are an employee? Sometimes when I go out to move something for someone, they send one of their employees out with me to open gates, let me in a building, show me what has to be moved, check the serial numbers of the machines they want me to load, lots of stuff like that.

I do it all the time, but should I be carrying something written? Like maybe a blank form and I just fill out the name and date?

 

I take the Shih-Tzu with me at times.

 

problem often lies in insurance, often nonemployees aren't covered

 

I always had my fiancee with me till i got her pregnant. Now i have a 14month old