TIPS FOR NEW DRIVERS

Ordered that meatloaf once. Never again. It was worse than Petro pizza.

 

lol I stay away from meatloaf as a rule, unless I know the cook -

 

Maintain 8-9 seconds distance from the vehicle in front of you at all times. That means if somebody new switches over into your lane, well now you have to slow down even more. If you see a rain drop or it’s windy, now slow down even more to 11 seconds following distance. God help you if it snows now you are 24 seconds travel distance. Enjoy that.

 

Don't get in a hurry and rush. If you are backing into a tight spot - get and look as many times as it takes to ensure you are not going to hit something with your trailer. Let other drivers wait and don't let them bully you into rushing.

 

Bully lol

 

If you have a habit of holding your hands steady on the wheel for hours at a time, put a padded cover on your steering wheel AND wear driving gloves with padded palms. I didn't when I started, and wore grooves in my finger tendons.

It took nearly a year of wearing gloves and being very cautious about how i held the wheel before the tendons healed. I still wake up some mornings and my fingers won't straighten out without me making a conscious effort using a fair bit of strength to open the hand.

For that year of healing, almost every time I opened or closed my fists, the tendons hung, and it was mildly painful to force the damaged part of the tendons through the little tendon ferrules that guide them.

 

Never trust anyone else to guide your backing if you don't look yourself.
Be very wary of anyone you do not know! Can not stress that enough. You will meet great people out here that may become lifelong friendships.

 

The few things I learned to do:

When disconnecting from a trailer I would count 1 2 3.
1) landing gear is down
2) air lines are disconnected
3) electrical plug is disconnected

One time I disconnected and pulled out and forgot the airlines. Never again .I just counted.

When hooking up first make sure you actually are lifting the trailer. Then I would also count one two three that the landing gear is up the electric line is connected and the airlines are connected. I would also visually check that the Jaws on the 5th wheel are locked and do a tug test.

A few other good things to get in the habit of:

If you stop the truck for lunch or leave the truck unattended for any reason, check that your fifth wheel pin has not been pulled. If it's a van trailer walk around and check your doors make sure they're still locked and take a glance around the truck make sure everything is secure. If it is a flatbed just take a minute to make sure your straps are still tight. When you stop if you've been driving for a few hours check your tires.

At the end of your trip or the end of your day when you walk away from the truck get in the habit of looking back at it as you walk away to make sure you didn't leave the lights on. You don't want to be the person that killed the batteries for no reason.

Also get in the habit of looking under the truck for leaks every time that you stop. And every morning check your oil and water and power steering and all of that stuff. Everyday. You don't want to be the person that took the truck out when it was 3 gallons low on oil. Or if the truck is slowly losing antifreeze you don't want to be the guy that takes it when it's empty. It also helps to check that everyday because you get to know the truck and what is out of the ordinary and what is a new problem that is beginning.

Also do a post-trip inspection. If the next driver has any problem with the truck at least you can say I checked the truck and didn't visually see anything wrong.

If you check the truck at night when you are done your shift and say the truck has a tire that's almost flat it's easy for them to change it before the next driver starts. It's much harder when the truck has to roll right away and that morning the driver finds a flat tire. The same goes for lights and everything else on your post trip.

And the most important thing of all is that when you are backing get out and look. If you are not absolutely 100% sure that you are a safe with the trailer or the truck because there are obstacles you can hit with the truck also as you back in make sure that you get out and look as many times as you need to.

 

If your a woman trucker, people will hate you. Playing along does best for you and the agitator.

 

Forgot to look back in a car park and wondered why my truck wouldn't move forward, i just thought it was stuck on the curb, instead of going out and taking a look, I put it in super slow gear turned out it was a light post, the truck was strong enough to knock it over. If something don't seem right check it out and see whats wrong before proceeding forward.