Do you prefer night or day driving and why?

a lot of variables go into that answer. Dry Van, Reefer, Open Air trailer? Local, OTR, regional.

I like to drive starting at around 4am, and drive puts me out of hours around 5ish roughly usually at the start of the evening commute

 

I ran nights all the time and loved it. I could get through Philly, NYC, Nashville, pretty much any major city and have zero headaches. Every now and then I'd hit the night time construction but it was never anything terrible. Scale houses were closed, no wait at the fuel pumps, I'd park around 9-10am so parking was never an issue. Life is better at night if you can get used to sleeping when the sun's up. I absolutely hated driving during the day.

 

If I was single, I would drive nights and avoid the traffic. That would also make parking much easier. Since I'm a family guy, I mostly stick to the same sleep schedule as my wife and suffer through rush hour traffic. I have a bit of an advantage with parking being on a dedicated account. The customer has stores throughout the area that I can take a 10 at. A few of them are right next to Planet Fitness locations for added convenience.

 

Dry van night driver, mostly coast to coast. A short haul for me is a two day 1,200 mile trip.

I used to start earlier but kind of settled in to starting around midnightish.

My biggest problem (I’m serious) is trying to choose which parking spot is the best for me.. far away from where all the fatties park and one where I’ll get out easily.

Fuel island is another, lol which one do I want. In 7 years I’ve probably waited for a pump less times than I have fingers. Cracks me up watching the heard all head to the fuel island at the same times in the morning and suppa time.

I don’t know what you mean by limited resources.. everything I need is always available at night.

I always try to be shut down by 1pm 2 or 3 but not common.

One big problem with night driving is animals..One plus is that I find that the other night drivers are…professional so to speak.

Not many of the mega carrier slow trucks clogging up all lanes..

Sitting in rush hour traffic in major cities never happens because I plan my clock accordingly.

 

You’ll never wait for a shower either.. I can go on and on about how much better it is driving at night.

Unfortunately sometimes trying to sleep during the day in a busy truck stop can cause severe crankiness, lol.

Park way in the back row all by yourself and the second you put your head on the pillow…A Prime Inc reefer with APU will park right beside you. You’ll literally need to try convincing yourself not to outright beat them to death with a baseball bat..

You definitely need to have some experience with when your eyelids get heavy in the early morning hours. I got a special CD that I put in and crank it up..works every time. This is the worst part when It hits you all of a sudden and there’s nowhere to park for a Power Nap.

 

I drove nights
for 18 years. I loved it. The downside is your sleep & socializing with people. Make your sleep your priority it's the only thing keeping you awake at 3 am. The people around you will want you to slip back into a day schedule. That will mean fatigue or falling asleep behind the wheel. Most trucking decides your schedule, not you. You will follow the schedule dictated by customer appointment times. You WILL NOT dictate appointment times.

 

If you drive at night, that’s fine I guess, but just know you can’t chase Kentuckians and drive at the same time.

 

I think running at night is so much better and it's not really close. Traffic, parking, easy 30 min breaks.

In reefer there are a lot of appointments in the wee hours so you can often work that into driving at night. Not always, but a lot of times.

 

night time for me, for many decades..
and what is this......"but limited in resources throughout the night"..????

that's what a lunch box, or lunch bag is for, a thermos is for, and bushes alongside the road are for...

you wanna be a trucker...??

or a skeerdy cat..???