What are the top 3-10 Tips for New Drivers

Yes I know it will be hard, the companies will screw you, the recruiter will lie to you, you will be tired, you will miss your family, etc.

What I want to know is, what does a new driver need to focus on in order to make this a positive experience?

 

1)do as much as if not all by the book...
the company book, and the DOT book

2) pay attention while in school, and practice, practice, practice

3) whether in your car or BIG RIG, OBEY the traffic laws.

4) get your proper rest/sleep.

5) if you have to load or unload, pick up objects the correct way, bending at your knees.

6) STAY AWAY FROM THE TRUCK STOP LUNCH COUNTER..
too much BS'ing there.....you DO NOT NEED TO HEAR from the morons...

 

1. Take as long as you need to back into a space. Don't let the concrete cowboys rattle you.

2. Take winter clothes even in July.

3. Always have food and water in your truck.

 

Second stay away from the Lunch Counter.

Learn two little letters, "No" and be prepared to cite chapter and verse from the FMSCA gospel green book and or company policy book which should both be in your pocket along with the orange or yellow hazmat etc.

Document every thing you do. Name names, who say what when where and how etc. Buy a large lined journal book, something like a foot wide and inch thick with 14 inch tall pages. Get two magic markers, one red one green. Use the green to check off each and every load particularly paid correctly to you including proper reinbursements etc. YOU will be putting a red dot on unpaid loads that is essentially a complete duplicate of everything sent to you by dispatcher via satellite and the load process itself, what time you arrived, tolls spent, what time you delivered and when etc. That book will show your DM that if you are short a trip or more in payroll, especially with a trip number attached to it etc. in your writing, they will cut you a comcheck on spot to catch you up on payroll. It's alot of paperwork, but it's a way of protecting yourself.

Get a good camera recording the stuff that happens in front of you. Wear a go pro on your cap lid. And if something does happen, it's all there on video in glorious color and sound as it actually happened.

DO not listen to anyone saying aww run it. Hell no. Write a defective report for vehicle inspection and turn that and vehicle in to shop and fix it. You might find that your life may very well depend on that little busted part deep in Wyoming somewhere.

Be good to everyone you meet. Sunshine, good morning etc. (Ya right heavy, you are full of BS you old grump...) but I have been good to office people. In return when I call asking for help with something they are more inclined to bend over backwards to assist.

Anything bad in your heart and you wanna march into Dispatch and tell em what for? Don't. Find a forest of trees and yell at them instead. And give thanks it's out, done, not stressing you and you are still employed. And fix whatever the problem is.

Finally but not last.

Teach your family when you are 2000 miles from home, that's not a time and place to be trying to wipe noses or settle squabbles or whining from the kids or a angry wife alone at home too long. That telephone is a very poor communicating and might make things worse. You may be working very hard to take home 50 cents out of that dollar with a 10.00 bill for scales etc. But you are working. (And so is your spouse etc)

pace yourself. The worst thing you can do is stride onto a company yard like paul bunyan and claim you can run the USA in three days alone for weeks. Dispatch will simply run out some rope and see how long you last before you burn out and quit.

 

Don't believe anything you read on the internet.

 

Everyone will make a mistake, don't turn it into a second bigger mistake. It's easy to get rattled when your new. Stop, assess the situation and determine how to fix it safely.

 

Look to TTR for entertainment purposes only.

 

Make sure you can navigate. Do not rely on a gps soley. It's just one component of the navigation skill.

Do not blow off the pre trip.

GOAL get out and look

As a new driver I violated everyone of these rules. Thank God it was not fatal in each circumstance but I learned from each mistake. Good luck and enjoy.

Oh yeah I forgot. Do not eat Pilot pizza. Give you the shats.

 

And bring 3 bottles of Keopectate do not use Immodium liquid these days, especially with the pols fighting the so called war on drugs aware that particular substance has a active drug that actually binds to your gut receptors that pain medicine binds to. Which is what stops the bad runs from awful food by putting your gut to sleep a while.