Sleepy Driving NOT worth it!!

Sad.

What else is sad is this will be another statistic for groups looking to have us drive 5 hours a day with 15 breaks in between and limit us to 200 miles a day (an exhaggeration but you never know)

 

Ill admit, when I was younger and dumber, I would stay out all night, and go in to work in the morning on no sleep (and no, alcohol was never a factor, I was never THAT dumb)...

There were many times I was driving that I should have been sleeping. Id keep on pushing thinking I can just keep going, Ill sleep when I get home.

Now, Im not as much of an idiot as I used to be (I dont care what my wife says). If I need a nap, I find a rest area and take one. We all drive tired, it is part of the job, but dont catch yourself driving so tired that you cant even keep your eyes open.

 

Been there done that.
Ruined my health and lucky never had an accident.
My drivers often get the instruction "if tired sleep".
I will rather explain to a customer that the load is late than it is in a ditch.
I have twice had to tell a drivers wife that their husband was dead.
Both were good guys with children.
I never ,never ever want to do that again.
I believe fatigue played a role in both accidents.
I have fired drivers for not resting after I told them to stop.

 

All of us who have been in the Business a longggggggg time have driven tired...I know i have but that was in my Outlaw Trucking Days...California turn arounds and i was good to go...it was the only way to make money..Now im to dang old and still poundering weather i want to go back out and drive or put someone in my truck..Problem is you have 100 mph dispatcher and 67 mph trucks for company drivers..If your tired pull over the life you save may be mine and yours...

 

when i first started with Knight/Squire....my trainer told me....if u start seein double Zippers....Pull it over!!!!!....

 

Being a new driver, getting the right amount of sleep is the toughest part.

 

I plead the 5th on this one . That's why paper log's are the way to go.

 

This is the one thing that scares the crap out of me is team driving but since i'm in the expedited field I really have no choice but to be in a team truck.I never drive if i'm real sleepy and if I was,I always pull over and took a few hour nap.

 

I've found that when I sleep when I'm tired instead of sleeping when the logbook says I'm tired, that I'm a way safer man behind the wheel. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. The logbook is my enemy and not because I want to abuse it, but because I want to be at my peak while behind the wheel in the best interest of public highway safety. The current hours of service makes no contribution to that at all in my case.