Essential Information for New Drivers

Best advice to newbies is to tell them to be confident. Be confident in the equipment you drive. Try your best first to learn what that equipment is capable of, and how it was designed to perform. Confidence is key.

If you don't have confidence in your equipment, chances are you won't have confidence in yourself. Doesn't matter which one comes first, but you have to have it.

 

Confidence comes with experience. When you start out being overly confident, you could be a danger to yourself and others on the road.

 

I started out with a company out if Wisconsin, Wel I feel a good first company to start with,I just left to try the local scene out but am dying to go back on the rd, thinking about going back to them but also looking at prime as a lease driver , but Wel was good to me so I might go back there , not sure yet , hopefully this helps u ,

 

Drive slower at first. Watch what everyone else does..
I'm tired right now. Juse getting in bed after a 12hr shift..
I'll list more later.

 

ProStar..................... I am an old time OTR cowboy with 54 years of riding the pavement. I will stick by my original post of learning your tranny, how to make it work for you in all situations and not having to think before you make a high speed, heavy load, decision. In most cases, a truck driver, when pulling a load at highway speeds, does not have time to think about the chronological processes he/he should or must make when he/she is confronted with an emergency situation. There is a lot more to keeping your rig under control than dynamiting your brakes, closing your eyes and hoping that you do not become part of your load.

I drove for a few years, after I retired from OTR driving, for a gravel haul contractor. Of his twelve body jobs, only three were nine speed automatics. They are great for heavy traffic hauling or for newbies learning the process of being an OTR driver. Women drivers seem to like automatics more than male drivers. Personally, I would prefer a 13 speed over an automatic anytime

As an example where a manual tranny can actually save your life and the lives of others. I was hauling a 38 ton load across Montana in the early nineties, just after a heavy snow fall. I came up on an accident on westbound I-90 where I was running at about 55 mph. Because of the slippery road conditions and the weight of my load, I knew ###### well that braking would have been useless. I will swear to this day, I didn’t even have time to think about what I had to do. I started grabbing gears and headed for the snow filled ditch and jammed the fuel pedal down to the floorboard. I just kept grabbing gears as fast I could and kept the pedal on the floor board . With the grace of God, I kept the trailer tracking with the tractor and stopped about sixty feet beyond the accident, but still in the ditch. The KWs’ bumper was a bit worse for wear and fenders were pretty much toast. After everything calmed down, I was a bit amazed that I had not pushed the fuel pedal right through the floor board. But most importantly, no one died because of a 43 ton tractor and jack knifing trailer plowing through the cars on the highway. With an auto tranny, this tactic would have never worked. I probably saved at least eight lives because of the manual tranny and not having to consciously think of what I had to do.

Nothing on this planet can take the place of experience and learning ever little intricacy of your rig and what you are hauling. I stand behind my original post.

 

Have fun,,

Be patient. you will be cut off by 4wheelers and trucks. usually the ones with the foot on the dash that can fly down the hills but couldn't pull the hill to save their lives. I run depending on the speed limit if its 70 i run 67/68 and so on. In town I run 5-8 under keeps all the crazies away from me. Just mosey along. Nothing pays if you don't get it there.

 

When I was an OTR I stuck to the speed limits during the day; however, from about midnight until about 5:30A, (if I was on long straight stretches and between populations) I would push my rig to what ever it was safe to handle. (Most company rigs are goverened so speeding not possible; or, a speeding ticket costs you a job) If I was hauling according to miles per day, over long distances that extra five to six miles per hour can make a huge difference in the arrival time. Yeah, we made up for the lost MPH on the downhill; however, I rarely let any more than three four wheelers line behind me. "- If -", I could pull over safely, I would. Hitting a soft shoulder is always a terrifying screw-up for a loaded driver.

 

Hi All,
I've read a lot of the posts concerning prime inc. I will be going the 17th for school and am excited. I have read that we're out for several months which is fine by me. Im trying to decide if I should just basically live in my truck and bank my money. Would prime allow me to.switch.my dl to MO. Anyone doing this or should I rent a place?

 

Living in the cab of your truck will work for a about three weeks. After that, the novelty will wear off. When I drove for Trans America in the 60s many of us would be on the road for six months at a time, with few, if any, breaks between hauls. Trans America's driver turn over was astronomical. Ninety percent of the driver turn over was due to "driver burnout" not fatigue. That truck cab can very quickly turn from joyous motor home living to living in a lock up in a mobile prison. Believe me, I comment from first hand experience. YOU NEED A HOME BASE!

 

It all depends on the truck. Back in the 60's it was primarily cabovers and plywood. Todays trucks offer quit a bit more creature comforts. Question you have to ask yourself is how much stuff do you have? Enough to fill a house or just a 1 bedroom apt. Do you want to waste your money on renting and paying utilities on a place you might get to see every couple of weeks. HMMMM If you like so many single people in trucking don't want to get a permanent place. Ask for time off after you been hard at it for three or four weeks in a place that would be fun to go explore. This country is full of cool places. Mount rushmore,you can park at or near Disney land in cali. if you have skis get close to a ski town and hoof it. Sea world I have been to and parked at. Go down to Ft Lauderdale and park and go explore the keys and the beaches. Get your self a motel room that is 10x better than the roach motels near the truck stops. Eat at places that you find on the way. Now i'm sure people will criticize what I have said. I spent 2.5 years working for a place that I was out for 1.5-2 months at a time. So I do have quit a bit recent knowledge. The truck i was driving was a Volvo 780 the big four window upper bunk and picnic table below. I now drive a 379 long nose that's a flat top. Spending anywhere from a week to three weeks out at a time. Its all what you make of it. Can be miserable or fantastic. It depends on the person. If your just starting out with prime and you are either a company driver or doing the lease purchase odds are good you will need to bank some cash before stepping out of the truck.