How often do you actually drive 11 hours/day?

Don't take statistics as gospel, especially guvment statistics. They will tell you that things are safer and better, but what do your eyes tell you? You hear drivers post about the person speeding through the truckstop parking lot. Sound safe to you? It's a common occurrence nowadays, but not years ago. You hear about drivers getting their hoods knocked off all the time. That Too was not a common occurrence. Somebody with an agenda is saying that trucking is safer now that it has been dumbed down and they throw numbers out in an 'independent study' to prove it.

Sorry, I don't buy it. It's not what I see. I see a fatal accidents almost every day.

 

I drive 11 hours no matter how long it takes!

 

The thing is you will be putting in 14 hour days, the question is...how do you want to spend those hours? I find it MUCH less stressful to drive for 11 hours than it is to drive a couple of hours, wait around a couple of hours, then drive, then wait...you get the picture. Learn to pace yourself. Stop for a potty break at least every 3 or 4 hours. You'll get used to it.

 

Try to drive 9.5 hours a day to keep your hours in check. Don't try to push your driving hours until the very end if you are on eLogs. You need to find a parking spot for that beast while you have the time on the clock.

 

Reading what Triple six and MarmonMan posted makes me wanna go truckin, headed west with two sticks and toothpicks c'mon. For the most part truckin ain't a job its a way of life. Its hard work I have learned that steady makes alot better time and money than fast and trashing around every whip stitch. When you like what you do it makes the hard work seem easier, when yuou hate your job even break time sux. There are lots of days I run past my 11 no way around it. There are days that there just isn't 11 hours of driving to get there, impossible to go that slow. From what I can see most want dependable work and pay scedules so they can "plan" it doesn't happen alot in this industry. I sometimes feel like triple six alot of people think its a easy well paying life, makes for a big dissapointment if your heart aint in it. Marmon Man you ever see my ol pete in your travels whoa up I'll buy you a cup.

 

I tell you what...in our industry, there's nothing that multiplies the joys of trucking and roaming the bigroad like driving the truck of your choice. It's like pulling into the office parking lot filled with FWD economy cars, and you're driving a 60s muscle car. The Prius guy brags about his fuel economy and the Kia guy talks about how much his 14 yr old daughter like to drive it. The Volvo guy brags about his airbags. The Cadillac driver brags about how smooth the ride is. What do muscle car guys talk about? Matching numbers, paint color and horsepower.

You get paid to drive your toy. It's extremely easy to run 11 hours when you love the equipment you drive. It's like taking the hot wife to Victoria's Secret.

 

I try to keep it at around 9 hours on-duty time. Any more than that, and you will run out of hours on your 70-hour clock. BUT you have to consider your 14 hour clock too. There have been several days when I was only on duty for 5-6 hours but had to pull over because my 14 hour clock was gone. This happens a lot of your waiting for loads, being loaded or unloaded, in for repairs, mess around to much en route, etc.
Thanks
Paul

 

Yep, today I drove 6:15 minutes but ran out of my 14. Customer loading issues chewed up my clock. Instead of sitting in that truck stop watching the game tonight I'm parked in Pondunkville looking at the wind blow the grass.....

 

The E-Loggers never want to discuss this.They also do not want to discuss breakdowns,road blocks,driving when dead tired and the time being chewed up at the shippers and recievers.They are a group in total DENIAL about getting ######..