Night driving vs day time

Well a lot of printers in the trucking business now.

As far as nights and days you probably don't get it. Go OTR as a new driver you will drive both. You will catch up on sleep later. That is just the way it is. If you try to schedule your driving time you will be left out on loads.

Less traffic is usually true, but more tiring and more demanding.

 

There are companies that do regional driving that run at night time. LTL carriers for example. I have driven at night for a couple of weeks because my job required it. The traffic is much lighter and it is a big plus. You just have to worry about getting in at a time when the truck stops are full. I know at the company I work for we have drivers that are day and hen we have night shift drivers as well.

 

Guys who do food service almost always run at night. When I was doing that it was strictly nights. Less traffic is an advantage but as toomanybikes said...it is more demanding and tiring. Plus in the winter time it is a lot worse. I hated it personally to know that you were 100% always running at night. At least OTR it will vary. More often than not, I ended with more daytime than nights. If you prefer nights check into food service. But that is a very physically demanding job since your also lumping the freight. Best of luck to you.

 

Now that I've done both I have to say driving truck I prefer nights. Being a local or short haul driver day shifts that pay decent start out early 2am -5am. I find myself miserable on those shifts cause it's easy when at home not to go to bed early. When doing my linehaul job sometimes I'd drive days. Well, majority of the idiots are driving during the day. I'm talking fellow truckers too. My bp is a lot higher during the day. I find winter driving at night to be way better. Less traffic and scared people out. At night you or somebody can wipe out and not hit anybody. During the day you'll have the conga lines of traffic people tailgating in bad weather. Everyone now trying to be Ice Road Truckers. If somebody screws up its a big mess.

 

Ive only been out a few months otr,but the drive times really depend on once you get rolling from the shipper.once I start my clock,I dont like to waste my drive time,in case I have to run on recovered hours later in the week.

 

For night driving you will need a very good eyes and a very good headlights. Driving night time means, you have to sleep day time. The truck must be equipped with a good APU or second A/C and please watch for the deers.

 

I do at least half my driving at night. Usually I head out at 12:30am. Not tonight. Goofing off. Only 90 miles from delivering in the morning.

I usually plan it so I breeze through large cities at 2am. Most drivers at night are older and play by the rules. No F this or F that on the CB. Always open spots at the fuel island to go in to a 24hr Subway and get something. I stop for the day around 10 or 11am. Always get the best parking spot. The one where any idiot can back in on either side of you.

Driving at night you have a heads up. You can see a brake light come on even before your over a hill. Or flashing lights.

I can't count the number of times I've had one or more cars following me when the bars close. Speed limit was 80 out west. I was doing 65 and this one car just wouldn't go around. I slowed down to 45 and he still stayed there. I pulled over into the brake down lane and he sat there for 5 minutes before he realized he wasn't at a stop sign. I'm guessing he was drunk.

My best tailgater at night was when I came across a dead deer in the road. I cleared it. One minute I had someone tailgating me and the next I didn't.

Driving at night makes my schedule so I'm always at the shipper or receiver waiting first thing in the morning.

One bad part about driving at night is the winter. Usually not much is done to the roads as far as sand, salt or plowing. Many times the highway is closed out West during bad storms.

 

The difference between daytime and nighttime driving is like day and night. (No pun intended). The difference in drivers is remarkable. The night owls will actually help each other and use a CB for its intended purpose, instead of moaning into it with some form of nonsense. They're much more courteous to each other. It's much easier to kick back and enjoy the ride.

Traffic flows freely, road rage is a little more rare. Weigh stations are usually closed ( I haven't been weighed or inspected in four years, but I don't leave PA, either).

I've done the daytime driving thing, it certainly won't work for me.

Radmans post above sums it up very well. About all I could add is this: you need to be reasonably able to think for yourself. Especially if working for a small company with only one mechanic who works 7am-5pm. When that headlight goes dead, you gotta be able to change it. Alternator craps out, turn off everything except the lights, and limp it home or to a garage. Stuff like that.

 

I run 2230 - 0700, Monday through Friday with occasional weekend work sprinkled in at night time too.

The hardest part is adjusting your circadian rhythm so you can force yourself to sleep between 1300-2100.

Once you get that part settled down, it's easy cruising and the most stress free time to drive. As far as OTR is concerned, I would imagine it would be more difficult to do because of sleep irregularities and the varied times customers ship and receive.

However, if you are well prepared and disciplined you can make great money driving nights as you'll essentially be able to drive till you drop, easily covering 600 miles per day.