Is trucking worth it, given it's one of the most dangerous jobs in USA?

Your current gig sounds pretty #### awesome. It took me 20 yrs behind the wheel to land a similar(hometime,days off and $$) like yours.

 

Every driver decides if the job is worth it and if his company is paying enough. The dangerous part of truck driving is what you eat. More drivers die from bad health than crashes. It's got a higher injury rate on the job than office work.

 

You are nuts to give up a schedule like that to drive truck.

 

.... and so whats the least dangerous job, that pays around 45,and doesn't require a degree of somekind??? I'd do it in a heatbeat.

 

Top 10 huh i just love danger well, think thats more of an assumption made by people who don't really understand just how safe a truck really is. The only things that'll make a truck dangerous is : 1. A vehicle that is not regularly serviced and becomes unroadworthy having faulty brakes, worn tyres, loose steering. 2. Having a driver that does not drive according to the road conditions, usually driving to fast in wet slippery conditions, following to close in wet slippery conditions, and driving to tired. Almost 100 % of the time a incident occurs involving a tractor trailer you can bet $1000 on it that it'll be one of those issues.

 

My boys workmate got soaked in heavy water at nuclear facility they are servicing this week Guy thought he was sweating, not that suit was leaking. Sheet happens!
Got years worth of radiation exposure in minutes.
Now that’s dangerous.
Truck drivers and often their lifestyles are their own worst enemies
Newbies pay attention. You don’t get old being stupid

 

Jeez I hope he gets some serious pay for that kind of work.

 

Aren't something like 70-80% of trucker injuries from falling? Pretty sure I heard that somewhere. Three points of contact, boys and girls.

I have a lot of technical experience, electronics degree, industrial maintenance, drafting and mechanical design and solid modeling, 3D Printing, CNC programming and debug. I spent almost 20 years driving a desk, and where I live, those jobs are not only not plentiful, but they don't pay for ####. I also got very very sick of sitting at a desk.

So, I'm driving trucks. It's not what I'd call easy, although, parts of it are. I start Monday driving chip trucks, so I'll be climbing bark bins, rung ladders on trailers to unsnag tarps, in and out of possum belly trailers to sweep them out, and ***drum roll*** on night shift. In all kinds of crazy weather (home for me is 49 degrees north).

Heck, most all of my loading and unloading will be in log yards and mill yards, very unpredictable surfaces, heavy equipment (operated by madmen) running around. Ah. Good times.

Sorry, I digress. So, yeah, quite a bit more dangerous than my first "professional driver" job driving a new mega carrier truck with mostly no touch dry vans.

Dangerous? Darned tootin'.

I can't wait to start.

 

Had a guy in an Infinity pull that on me a few months back.Merged onto a highway and hadnt "made it to the right lane YET". I was in the middle lane at the time.Well,"No Idea what his problem was! He come up and "angle cut in front of my bumper,immediately pumped his brake pedal(all the while pointing to the right lane.All I caught was a "glimpse of his roof" Now Im up on him! He thought he was going to make me "shift load in the trailer,or lock up brakes? I did No SUCH THING! Lightly touched the brakes (for computer verification). That was it.He "tromped his gas pedal just enough to stay in front of me.I called the police,They asked where I was? Told them.Finally,I said "Dont you want the license plate number? Oh,yes,if you have it.Nothing was done.Nada.Was several cars behind him for several miles.No police on sides of road,watching for him,Nada.

 

It used to be a whole lot funner, but then again, everything else was too.

If you like camping, you'll love OTR truck driving.