Need CDL & Team driving questions from a complete newbie

Any company you start with will pair you with a trainer for a few weeks. My first company put me with a trainer for 8 weeks before I was assigned my own truck.

Don't decide about teaming until you have found you can sleep in a moving truck. I never could sleep well at all. I doubt I ever got 2 solid hours of sleep in those 8 weeks.

 

Your team mate will be asleep while you are driving and vise versa.
That being said. As a new driver, any good company will send you out with an experienced driver for 3 to 8 wks.

 

yo

 

You ask good questions. The only questions that are stupid is those left unasked. Follow me?

I will give you very good answers prescribed by FMCSA and DOT regarding your BP and I will give you Common sense answers to your team driving questions. Believe it or not Trucking is for those who are able to not only comply with the 50,000 laws that regulate this industry from Federal all the way down through each of the 8,000 counties in the USA (IS it that many?) and even to the thousands of local towns that regulate it as well.

First BP. This is a page that starts the BP situation facing actual DOT examiners issued to them by the FMCSA. You cannot get anything more explicit than this bedrock.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmc...es/mrb/83401/fmcsamedicalexaminerhandbook.pdf

I summarize for those unwilling to visit off site links.

Reading
Category
140-
159/90-
99
Stage 1 hypertension


160-
179/100-
109
Stage 2 hypertension


greater than or equal to 180/110
Stage 3 hypertension
Table

2 -
Blood Pressure/Pulse Rate Recommendation Table Columns 1 and 2

Expiration Date
Recertification
1 year
1 year if less than or equal to 140/90

One-time certificate for 3 months
1 year from date of examination if less than or equal to 140/90

6 months from date of examination if less
than or equal to 140/90

6 months if less than or equal to 140/90
Table
3 -
Blood Pressure/Pulse Rate Reco
mmendation Table Columns 3 and 4

If a driver is.... 180/110 IT IS A ABSOLUTE DQ. No. ifs. buts. maybes. The stroke risk and other associated failures of the different body systems is essentially imminent. A driver who carries this value will have a medical emergency and that 40 ton 18 wheeler will become a flying dutchman oot of control at 70 mph killing people. The risk is unacceptable.

As I write this my Hypertension stage three is around 162/ 112 and has been for two years give or take. That is one of the big problems I have which is being worked on by doctors in my own life.

When I was 21 and started driving, I had high BP initially, roughly 150/95 which was enough to have employers not hire me. Doctors in those days resolved that with diet and smoking, coffee and so on changes. And resolved that.

Fast forward 34 years or so no coffee, no drinking, no smoking no women, wine and song and I am hypertension 3.

HA.

Maybe I should find me some drinking, smoking, wine, women and song and carouse to get the BP back down. He he he.

That your cold Facts regarding BP and the trucking industry medicine in general within that PDF link directly issued to Medical Examiners who decide if a trucker is medically qualified to drive interstate or intrastate commerce in a 18 wheeler or other vehicles of sufficient rating by weight and commercial license type.

Now for the common sense answers.

You talk about team driving.

Are you willing to lay down your body, commit your soul to God and leave your life in the hands of the unshaven obese and out of shape trainer you just met 5 hours ago on your very first day at the trucking company?

Your nights are going to be long. And will be until you get used to the teaming situation. You cannot do well in teaming until you have a partner you can trust. THAT takes some time. A sufficient converstation over dinner or lunch counter to learn about each other before you go out on your first load will alleviate many of the challenges in trying to rest inside a sleeper berth heading into a howling winter storm. (BTW winter is coming.)

That's all for now.

 

Not to mention hygiene issues. The last thing you need is some fat guy, or any guy, that won’t shower, do laundry, brush his teeth, or comb his hair. Drives like an idiot, stabs the brakes, over or under reacts, can’t judge speed or distance and a myriad of other problems. This guy will be your trainer and you will have to sleep behind him. You will have real nightmares.

 

A co-driver can work out good, I understand why you would like one. I teamed with my husband and it was great to have him around in case I had a question. The down side is getting a driver that you're not compatible with, then being in a truck 24/7 with them can be hard.
Wish you luck and safe travels!

 

Hello Dave,

My name is Chris, I’m 21 and I live in Maryland. I’m also interested in trucking and would like to get my Class A CDL through a company sponsored CDL training program. I was interested in teaming as well my first year as opposed to going solo to have someone there along the way to help and to rotate driving times. I would like to do OTR for possibly 1 year then do regional/local as well. I’ve been looking at a few companies that offer training and allow teaming as well. If interested my email is chrislovgod@aol.com.