What do you do while driving for hours on end?

I listen to a steady stream of audiobooks and podcasts. I bought a Cleardryve 200 but sometimes I get tired of it on my ears so i'll listen to the truck. Especially on a quiet road at night, listening to the sing of a '98 cat makes a drive very comfy.

 

@Nyseto

Your OP itself and the assumptions you make about how other "professional" drivers face "boredom" are abusive. The members which have called out your assumptions are:

1. Doing YOU a service. They are trying to instill in you a sense of responsibility.

2. Doing ALL drivers a service, by standing up against idiocy. Keep in mind I am NOT calling you an idiot. In my book an idiot is someone that justifies stupid behavior. Stupid is doing something you know is wrong. So far you haven't made a claim to stupid, so there's no traction for idiocy. HOWEVER, merely posting the OP in the manner that you did and following up with abuse towards right minded true professionals does offer opportunities for further digression.

Don't digress. Read all the posts you take objection to again. Then read them again. They may be worded in a way that offends you NOW, but I would bet a hefty sum that if you survive three or four years at this profession incident free you can go back and read them again and realize they are speaking a harsh truth.

 

Unfortunately I have also... But that's when my FM gets a call and I let him know the truck # and situation. I'm not ashamed to admit I'll call in on a stupid a55.

Saw a guy just before xmas. Talking (on a headset at least) to someone via VIDEO chat on his phone that was mounted right in front of the driver, while also having a tablet mounted on the windshield, watching some kind of show/movie... All the while trying to drive down the road at 65.

But me... I listen to my music (My music is all instrumental) and have the CB on low enough to hear stuff when needed.

 

Laid back with lot of moments of OH ####, or not another back up, or you want to to back in there?

 

It was several years ago that I started to wean myself from audio distractions. It began when I started to do a daily "post trip analysis" of my day. I soon realized that a missed gear here or there, or a difficult right turn into a customer yard...those weren't the glaring errors.

Decisions. Bad decisions were the glaring error. Maybe two or three a day. The majority of those bad decisions were caused by distraction, often from getting too "into the zone" with a CD of my favorite artist.

I cut back on listening to ANYTHING but the truck. I started to do internal "commentary driving" before I knew it was a "thing", as I prepared to be a trainer.

That's why in an earlier post on this thread I noted that my entire focus is on the next upcoming hazard. Approaching a slower moving truck, wanting to pass, but also approaching an interchange with four truck stops on an uphill entrance ramp? That's a hazard, right?

FOCUS on the potential hazards. In a situation like that I might pull over into the hammer lane, but pace the slower moving truck. I do this to block the self centered mindless ####s trying to pass. I do THIS to make SURE there isn't a a slow moving truck about to enter the freeway and signal that trucker I wanted to pass with two cancellations of my headlights. I want him to get over in front of me safely, allowing that slow moving merging truck to come on in, with a convoy of impatient 4 wheelers behind, so that slow moving truck can easily merge back over and I can hammer down to pass, get over and let impatient 4 wheelers through.

MY job is to make sure everyone around me gets home safely today.

MY job ISN'T to entertain myself today.

Any questions?

 

Most days I listen to life stories, laugh, and offer advice to the lot lizard I pick up the night before.

 

Agree. Anyone new to driving 80k lbs of truck down the freeway should go to the “trucking accidents” sub forum here. Watch the many videos there and see how fast your ### can be in a world of hurt.

 

Somebody asking what movies they should watch while driving a CMV deserves to be abused and ridiculed. Sorry