night shift

Night driving is ideal...I used to run a night shift when I worked local deliveries. The problem with OTR is that the load picks up and delivers when it does, not when you want it to. Anyone who drives OTR and tells you they ONLY drive at night is exaggerating a bit...

 

I drive the daylght hours and my wife drives the nights, just the way we like it. A deer commited suicide using our truck a couple of years ago. Had about 6 grand in repairs! Dangers? Drunks, wrong way drivers animals, sleepy drivers who just refuse to get off the road! Yes you do have less traffic.

 

I have been driving nights for 9 years. I would rather run in the daylight, I miss seeing how the other half lives. Traffic at night is better, but they do a lot of bridge construction/destruction at night which causes 15 minute, so they say, road shutdowns. I have seen many tired truckers out at night riding on and off the rumble strip. In the winter they aren't the fastest with snow removal until just before the morning rush. Most scales are closed so that is a plus.

 

My runs are only at night. I have come to prefer it. Easier to take care pf personal business during the day if needed.

 

I really don't have a preference, but running at night gives you less of a chance to be in a traffic jam or accident. The only downfall of night driving is that if you're tired, it's easier to fall into "micro sleep".

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I only drive at night....

Why would this be an exaggeration?

 

I have been running at night for a few years now, local.

Pros for me:
Less traffic / less exposure / less chance of accident
get done faster
less management at work to bug you
no congestion at my stops

Cons for me:
some customers have no access at night so I have to come back at end of rt.
dozing at wheel
getting back on day sleep cycle on weekend, have to go back on minimal sleep Sunday night. The rest of the week is easy, as I am so tired when I get home I go right to sleep.


If I start to doze off, I keep a pillow in the daycab and take an hour nap. It usually gets me through the rest of the night.

At home I blacked out all the bedroom windows, turn off the phone, and run a small fan in the room to help drown out outside noise in order to sleep during the day.

Overall, I prefer night work.

 

Weekends or vacations/shutdowns are the worst for me. Just got back last week from 11 days off and just now readjusting.

 

Then you must have a pretty sweet deal going on with your dispatcher, cuz I can't see how anyone working true otr can get away with one hundred percent shift driving. There are just too many variables; weather, time zones, drop off times, pick up times, live loading and unloading that can run several hours, breakdowns etc etc. I'm not saying it's impossible to have a preferential time of the day you prefer running, but if you're trying to convince anyone you work, say, midnight to ten am every single day, you're either exaggerating or you're not getting the most out of an over the road career...

 

Two words:

Dedicated Route!

Mikeeee