I'm thinking of joining the ranks of being a OTR driver so I've been researching companies that train and all that business but for myself my main concern is my eyes. To keep it short and to the point I'll just say I have a lazy left eye. I don't really use my left eye to see at all so when I do take eye exams say for my driver license for example my right eye comes in at either 20 or 40 vision and my left eye is like 100+ vision. So would getting into driving be a pointless task for me????
You need to research the DOT and your home state's regulations on this. Google should help. Maybe someone with experience in this will post or someone will research the regs and post. I can't remember on the DOT physical but it has to be at least 20/40 corrected in both eyes for the FAA physical. I'll post my standard copy and paste advice for new drivers to avoid the many pitfalls. You need to research and find out what the important questions are. You can make an above average living but you will make sacrifices that other jobs don't require. Read the "good companies" and "bad companies" section on this forum and get an idea of what company you want to work for and what kind of trailer you want to pull. Don't just go to school and then try to figure out where to go. I don't know your financial situation. Don't take training from a company if you can afford it or get it with financial aid. You will be their slave for up to year. If you leave they will trash you DAC and credit record. Check out your local community colleges and employment office. Just know that most training and trucking company recruiters will do nothing but lie to you. They will let you talk about what you want and then tell you what you want to hear. Trucking is about moving freight to make money for the company. Your home time, family, paycheck and everything else comes second. It is not like any other job. Local is usually backbreaking delivery work 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week. Often you unload dozens of times a day or you are a salesman. In my area most dump truck jobs pay less than a good factory job. Regional is lots of loading and unloading time, fewer miles than OTR and not as hard as local but will wear on you and push your HOS limits. OTR is out 3 - 5 weeks with 3 - 4 days home, less manual labor and more miles. You'll probably have to pay your dues before you get the gravy job. Weekends off, if you are lucky enough to get something like that starting out, may be home Thursday afternoon and leave Saturday night or home Friday night and leave Sunday afternoon. Loads deliver on Monday early and you leave in time to get them there. Often your home time will be in the middle of the week. Regardless of your driving choice, after school you will go through company training. For OTR this can be six weeks to three months with little or no home time. The first phase is usually $400 a week and the second phase is $500-550 a week. Some pay less. One company pays 12 CPM for training. One last thing, you don't want to wait around too long after training or you'll have trouble finding a job. If you get out before you have a year in, when you try to come back a few months later you will find they want you to start over.
My guess is your going to have a problem. This is only a guess but if your primarily using your right eye that would most likely effect your depth perception. As far as driving you need good depth perception to be able to perform the required duties. Again this is only my guess but logic would imply your going to have issues. Good luck and if you aren't able to get your cdl I'm sure you will find something that can be equally fulfilling.
Worked with a driver that had 1 eye. He got a special release from the company and was able to truck. That was a long time ago in a far off place. He did well driving as long as you didn't get on his blind side..........sorry it was a running joke at the company we called him wood eye.
Depth perception for the task of landing is why you can't fly without good corrected vision. I think it will be a problem for trucking. But I think it might be possible to get a waiver. It is something that the OP will have to research. IMHO, the two questions he must answer before spending time or money on training are: 1) Can I get a waiver for my DOT Physical? 2) Will any companies hire me?
I remember now, with one eye you can get a waiver from the DOT medical review board and only drive Intrastate which means with in the confines of your state. Like a local job. http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...try-regulations/147938-visually-impaired.html
thats so stupid.....if you cant see well enough to drive, what difference does it make what state you are driving in?
