does anyone else get nervous when driving?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by follwer, May 11, 2014.

  1. OldHasBeen

    OldHasBeen Road Train Member

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    Oh, I just remembered, many years back I got very nervous one day. At the time I was hauling bulk cement. We were doing a road job over in Eastern Arkansas. They made up cross a wood bridge on a dirt road, the bridge was about 40 or more feet long, it was longer than our truck & trailers. It had no supports, It was made out of wood, it looked to be 30 or more years of age. It was about 30 to 40 foot down to the water.

    I remember also a bridge going to the lime pit at Batesville, AR. There was a very long old bridge single lane bridge across a river, it was many feet to the bottom, the 1st few times I crossed it, I was nervous, very nervous, yet I finally got use to it & thought nothing about it.

    And I was a bit nervous once on a barge. I had unloaded at Newport, Arkansas, them went to Batesville. I looked at my Atlas & found a shortcut, & took it. Everything was going fine, them I come up to a short curve & the road seemed to get a bit narrower. When I rounded the curve, there it was, a river, no bridge, he was coming back from the other side with a car on board.

    I got out of my truck & walked down waiting on him, watching. the main motor was out, & he had a 9.9 Mercury outboard motor hanging on the side. When he got to my sdie, & unloaded the car he asked me, 'Are you loaded?"

    I replied, "No, I'm empty."

    He them said, "Well if it will fit on my barge I can get you across, if not you will have to figure out some way to turn around & go back to Newport."

    "Turning around, where? Wow, I did not see a place I can turn around for about 1 & 1/2 miles, have there been truck come across here that had to do that?" I asked him.

    He said, "Quite a few of them, but I don't hardly every see the same truck twice unless its got a new driver."

    So I backed up, & pulled on, my front tires were setting on the edge at the front, my back tires were setting on the edge at the back.

    I got out and looked saying, "Do you really think we can make it? Do you really think that 9.9 horse motor will pull us across?"

    he replied, "Sure it will."

    I them asked,"What happened to the motor over there?"

    He said, "It went out, & its so old they haven't been able to find parts for it."

    I was very nervous all the way across, & I promise you, I did not go that way again until they put in a brand new bridge across that river. Until the bridge was put in & finished, I went the long way!

    So I must say, I have been nervous, under certain conditions. I expect many of you would have been too!
     
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  2. rank

    rank Road Train Member

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    I bet that's true.
     
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  3. CrappieJunkie

    CrappieJunkie Wishin' I was fishin'

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    Its only human to be nervous. I have been driving 7 months. I left my only company that has a decent rep to go to a company that has a less than decent rep, if u believe everything I read on here, anyways, in school mainly drove beat up Internationals and a few Freightshakers, one old GMC White. Training I drove an International with a Maxxforce, Got truck assignments and they were both Freightshakers, all manuals. Now I sit here today in South Holland, IL in the bunk of my 2011 International with a Cummins and an automatic granny and old school Qualcomm wondering if I made the right decision. Btw this is my first time in the Chicago area and I have to pick up in Chicago in the morning. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but if I can drive from Sioux Falls, SD to Columbus, OH in a blizzard and near white out conditions I know I can do this. I'm nervous but you can't let it mess with your head. Be nervous and a bit more cautious, but remember you have to maintain speed limits too
     
  4. 77smartin

    77smartin Road Train Member

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    I would be nervous of someone who says they don't get nervous.
     
  5. hunted

    hunted Medium Load Member

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    Remember to breathe. Dont get yourself all wound up take your time and concentrate on your task at hand. Everybody gets nervous from time to time. People who said they never got nervous are liars
     
  6. OldHasBeen

    OldHasBeen Road Train Member

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    Sure glad I'm not out there any more with all the nervous drivers setting behind the steering wheels of the trucks with sweating hands.
     
  7. Wooly Rhino

    Wooly Rhino Road Train Member

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    When I get nervous it is a sign that I am doing something I shouldn't be doing. Or that her husband is almost home.
     
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