My experience with Roehl Transport and OTR in general

cant always believe what people tell you either. just have to talk and see if it seems legit. had an o/o approach me today about the wheel covers on my truck and it turned into a 40 minute conversation and ill never become an o/o because he said some things that i never really appreciated about being a company driver but i understand fully now. although hes been an o/o well before i was born. not all truckers are out to see you fail. if anything, most just dont want the drivers of today to fall into the same crap theyve been apart of or witnessed. shoutout to all o/o's. us company drivers look up to ya

 

Garry ind.what about you?

 

After reading this entire thread, I personally just think the original poster had unrealistic expectations and a bad attitude from the get-go. He seems to think every OTR driver is a slob and he started right in by bashing his fellow students. One of them had shaky hands, the women couldn't turn without hitting the curbs, others ground gears, etc, etc. Frankly, I didn't see much positivity in anything he posted. Sounds to me like he has some sort of superiority complex and the people in the offices apparently have figured that out long before he has.

What does he expect being a student driver? Hasn't he ever heard the term "bottom of the totem pole"? I drove a truck in the 1980's and I left the industry to raise a family. Now that I am long divorced and my kids are gone and raising families of their own, I have decided to return to trucking because I always loved it. A lot of changes have taken place in the last couple of decades in the trucking industry...some good and some not so good.

However, one thing I do know is that I have to start all over again from the bottom rung of the ladder. For that reason I am leaving next month to go back to train with a starter company and pay my dues again. Sure, I don't want to do this, but I know that I have to put up with some crap for a year or so to get to where I want to be. A good friend of mine that is a partner in a smaller company here in Michigan for 20+ has already told me that he will hire me to drive a dedicated run from Grand Rapids to Houston to Fresno and back to Grand Rapids. However, he also told me that because of insurance reasons, he can't do this until I have at least one year of recent verifiable OTR experience. So...the bottom dollar is this...I don't expect to be given anything, I expect to earn it.

I spent 25 years working in the hospitality industry. I started out as a waiter and bartender. Then I became a cook and finally left as an executive chef. You work hard and you work your way up, you don't get anywhere by complaining about other students/trainers or drivers.

It sounds to me like the OP is acting like a kid at a neighborhood baseball game. He doesn't like how the game is being played so he's going to take his ball and go home. The biggest difference though...is that he really doesn't have a ball to take home and no one is going to miss him on the playing field.

 

Its hard to believe someone that worked 15 hours a day at a local job was using a log book.

 

I work for a concrete company in Austin TX. We are local and paid hourly. The state of TX allows concrete companies to run 15 hrs. per day but we have to run logs as part of the deal with the state. 15 hour days run consecutively really sucks because we may only have 8 hours between shifts 24-7 until you hit 70 hours.

 

If he I driving more than 100 "airmiles" from the yard or crossing state lines you have to by law. Pretty much only city drivers are excempt from logbooks.

 

100 air miles, and return to terminal withing 12 hours are the ONLY requirements for local driving... NOTHING about crossing state line.

100 Air-Mile Radius
You are not required to fill out a log with a graph grid if you come under the 100 air-mile radius
exception (see p. 3 for explanation of “air miles”). The 100 air-mile radius exception applies for any
day in which you:
•
Drive within a 100 air-mile radius of your normal work reporting location,
•
Return to your work reporting location and are released within 12 consecutive hours, and
•
Follow all other basic hours of service rules including the 10-hour off-duty and 11-hour driving
requirements.
Your motor carrier must keep time records of the times you report for and are released from work
each day, and the total hours on duty each day. You do not have to have these records in your truck.
This exception is optional. For example, you and your employer may choose to use a logbook even
though you are within the 100 air-mile radius, so that you do not have to be released from work
within 12 hours that day.
The motor carrier that employs the driver and utilizes this exception must maintain and retain for
a period of 6 months accurate and true time records showing: 1) the time the driver reports for
duty each day; 2) the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day; 3) the time the driver
is released from duty each day; and 4) the total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with
Section 395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.
This regulation is found in Section 395.1(e)(1)