Truck drivers that you should not team with

I'm amazed at how many drivers are like this. I would assume that most of these guys are 'functionally illiterate', or else just plain stupid (an aspect which will probably bring you grief at other times as well...). Back before they instituted that $100/year and FBI check endorsement I always kept my hazmat current even when not driving. More than a decade ago, a full seven years after I stopped driving and at the point where there had been major changes in placarding my license was up for renewal, so I studied the updated hazmat test the night before and passed it easily.

I'm afraid that any driver who finds a hazmat test "too hard" will probably consider avoiding hitting curbs on turns too hard as well. Somebody who can't read well enough to pass a hazmat test is probably too illiterate to read the sign saying "12'6" 1 mile ahead". And somebody who is just plain stupid will probably end up getting stuck down to his axles eventually...

 

In my long experience team driving has hardly ever been a feature of European truck driving, in fact the main aspect of it, an off duty driver sleeping in a moving truck, is almost certainly illegal.

So I have never faced the decisions posed by the OP. But I agree with most of his points, especially smoking (also illegal, in UK at least, in a workplace) and top bunk sleeping. But from memory most of the modern trucks I drove had strong mesh belting between the bunks and the rest of the cab which might not have the same safety as seatbelts but would alomst certainly stop someone 'sliding out under harsh braking'. Are they not a feature of US trucks?

Dropping down into someone elses' bedding though, a no no for me, but then I am halfway through watching Netflix's 'Brokeback Mountain' at the moment so might be feeling a bit queasy on that subject right now..

 

LOL...Your threads are always about you, one way or another. It just dawned on me that I can put people on IGNORE now. I've never used it before. You're my very first.

 

Mental notes..

Very telling that you store such information in your head. Personally I can’t remember what I had for breakfast but on the other hand I’ll probably remember the lady truck driver that I spent hours talking with the other day in NC

 

No! Don't leave us alone with him!

 

Got it in one, that's me too. Biggest attraction of the job right from the beginning was being alone in my own space, loving the sound of my own voice, with no interruptions. Plenty to talk about with other drivers when parked up for the night.