pros/cons of overnight driving

Driving at night
Major road construction/repairs happen
Lot's of bright lights
Temporary shifts to driving on shoulders

Parking is a premium quantity
Rest areas are full usually by 10pm until about 7am, good luck on finding a
place to pull in some to just go use the bathroom.
Truck stops are usually packed, including the fuel islands. Which causes
delays in getting fuel and to do those fast things.

Less 4 wheelers
In the major cities probably not by much.

Weather
In the dark and rain it's harder to see where the road is. Even harder
to see where ice is.

I don't have a preference to either. I agree with the others that hours we drive are dictated by the shippers and the receivers.

 

Pro's

Less traffic
likelihood of enjoyable or at least halfway intelligent conversation on the cb most nights
construction backups are minimized because of less traffic
usually better quality of drivers on the road at night
chicken coops are rarely open as much
easy to stop and get in and out of places quickly

Con's

training your body to be awake at those hours when you should be sleeping
staying alert ( see above )
adjusting your schedule to still fit your deliveries and pickups in at the appropriate times
animals
less visibility
road construction ( can also be a pro because less traffic equals less backups )

 

Why would you need to or care about the Supertruckers..... idiots have brakes too. If they don't like how I drive stay off my sidewalk.

Nighttime is the only time to make miles easy. Rest is another issue. Drivers whether day or night need to recognize fatigue. You have to stay more alert at night Ill give you that....

As far as Supertruckers, I would not let them smell my Charmin.

 

when i was teaming i didnt mind the 3am to 2pm shift. I could drink all the monster in the world in the morning and it would be out of my system when i went to bed at 3pm

 

Good posts. What I always liked about driving at night was: Better radio (AM/FM) reception, fewer commercials, none of the "drive-time banter" with two guys who are supposed to be funny and a woman who is paid to laugh at everything they say Back when all we had was AM/FM.

Also - It sure is fun to drive through downtown anywhere at 3, 4 a.m. at 55, 60 mph, see all the quiet empty buildings, hardly any cars (even LA between 3 and 4:30 a.m.). That is so much fun that it should be illegal. Everybody else is sleeping, but you are moving freight through the night. They write songs and poems about this, and it goes w a a a y back in our history.

 

Glad im not the only one. I have a ton of fun flying thru downtown chicago on 94 late at night. its the only time you can fly thru on the governor and no one in sight to cut you off.

 

Oh there is always somebody around to cut you off in Chicago regardless what time it is.

 

I'm getting used to the visibility issue. What I hate about night driving is when the rest areas are jammed up. I like to stop at those for a quick break.

 

I've had a LOT of near misses while driving at night. None were my fault, just things like...

I was westbound on westbound I-90 in the middle of nowhere in montana, all of a sudden i see headlights in my lane. And its road construction only one lane is open.

One time I was trucking along a 2 lane in the middle of nowhere in kansas and what i believe to be a drunk driver approached an intersection where he had a stop sign and i had nothing. He didnt look like he was going to stop, so i started slowing down. He stopped (very abruptly like he didnt plan on it), makes a right turn behind me and starts tailgating me and flashing his lights and crap at me......im going up a grade, its gonna be a while, and its YOUR fault im going slow...


Just stuff like that.

A lot of cool scalemasters run the scales at night. Like any other job, the night guys are cooler and less interested in actual work than the day guys.


I don't like running all night, but what I like is running like 3-3, in either direction.

Its nice to shut down at 4pm or so, plenty of parking.

It's nice to shut down at 4am too, plenty of parking (everyone who got there at 6pm is leaving)

I stay up late in my personal life so shutting down at 4am is the most comfortable schedule for me.

This week ive been running all night all week. Its because i got a load in the middle of the night and was told i had to be at a tow yard at 6am to recover a load, got there at 5, place didnt open til 8. Then i took a 34 hour restart and wanted to roll as soon as the 34 was up...due to the rest of the week, that was 2am..

today i finally break the cycle. My load aint ready til 1pm tomorrow. I'm 3 miles from the shipper. hehehee.