A rookie truckers big mistake
“Ah shit look at the rookie driver f-up”, most senior drivers would say!
I would like to point out that this article is in no way a attempt to belittle a company or their driver, rather it is a way to drop a little knowledge on new drivers and those looking at entering the trucking industry. (this is not a reference manual, just a few insights is all)
Now I know you are saying to yourself “now how in the hell did the driver get himself in that kind of a situation”. The answer is really simple actually, he failed to plan. Lets start by explaining what more then likely happened here and close with some helpful advice so this does not happen to you.
He either made a wrong turn or was given wrong directions, in any case seeing the road starting to look increasingly more dangerous he panicked. He was thinking my only way out of this mess is to go back the same way I came in, instead of stopping long enough to plan a course of action, you can clearly see how far his plan got him.
I’m very thankful to come from a trucking family dating back three generations, as a matter of fact almost all of my ken folk and friends drive to one extent or another. I can remember my first over the road trip with out my father to babysit me, I was worried I would fuck up, get lost or have a accident. I turned to my father for a little bit of advice before I hit the road for Sacramento,Ca.
I said “pops any last words you could offer me?” he said ” Never run in a pack they will either slow you down or push you past your limit, run by yourself and sleep whenever you are tired. Run your own truck don’t let your log book run it for you, if you are tired sleep forget about that delivery. Did I mention sleep son?”. Most importantly he said “before you move your truck know exactly what you are doing, flying by the seat of your pants could get you killed.”
Almost everything I know about trucking came from my father who is a amazing driver with a recorded second to none ( 5 million miles accident free). I could see even when I was real young that it was not just driving for him, it seemed he had a gift for knowing what was about to happened before it happened. He has a read on his environment like he has the spirit of the road with in him. I feel honored when I get a chance to sit next to him while he navigates his big rig across America.
Now this article is getting extremely long so I am going to avoid a in depth explination of trip planning. If you are interested in learning how to plan right leave me a comment in the section below, if enough people are interested I will dedicate a entire article to such topic. The important thing when planning is to use all the resources you can.
- Atlas
- city index
- google maps or similar software
- cell phone
- State Access Policies sheet
- longer combination vehicle sheet
- weight and size provisions (federal,state,provincial)
- Bridge formula table
- Any state route map if available
- Common sense, etc
Planning is the key essential to avoding this situation however even the best of plans can get side tracked, how you get out of bad situations is what makes you either a pro or a newbie! NEVER, EVER, EVER think about doing a U-TURN in the middle of a road NEVER. If you feel like you are running out of SAFE alternatives call law enforcment who are more then willing to come out and give you a hand to get you back on the safe track. If that means coming to a stop in the road then by all means stop where you’re at. Get out your reflective vest set up your safety triangles and keep your head up as not to get hit by moving traffic. Now take a deep breath and learn from the experience we all have been there!
Related posts:
- Trucking Lessons from a truckers son
- Minnesota Checklist Fatigue
- Ice Road Rookie
- how much do ice road truckers, and oversized load truckers make?
- Truckers talk about truck stop acquisitions and the ATA’s push for longer and heavier trucks.
Category: Truckers on police, Truckers safety, Trucking in general, Trucking videos
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ty for this very informative blog steve
Thank you for reading and sharing brother.
Dude, I get your tweets, and although you do send out some pretty ridiculous stuff this had some value, heh. I am in CDL school, and I have found it to be challenging. The ALLEY DOCK move is pretty tough to get the hang of!! Anyways, I do hope to get out there in the world and dos ome trucking. Keep sending out those good tweets!!
Thanks my brother, I Know I clown around a lot but I am always serious about trucking. Which is part of the reason I clown so much I need a out. I do put out some none retarded shit every once in a while. Take care brother.
Beautifully written. Very nice vignette of you and your Dad. (There should be a movie about him, you, 3 generations of safe trucking.)
If you ever had to moonlight, you’d make a stellar instructor. The TruckerSteve Driving Institute. Has a nice ring to it.
Seriously, bravo. It is no stretch to think that such blogs can make a real difference just by reinforcing the message in such a straight-on way. Kudos.
Thank you, Paul and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago after some trial and error Im using microsoft streets and trips with gps I dont need internet to use it, it is nice because its as much an atlas as anything else I still have to look at the book to see scales and truck routes… Ive made a few wrong turns and even had a police officer stop traffic for me cuz I was an idiot that day he helped me out and gave me the best route to get out of where i was Ive learned that it is valuable to always call the destination for the best route and my little 4.00 truckstop guide is completely invaluable
I know what your saying, I too have ran with microsoft streets and trips not exactly for directions but really to find out what is around FOOD and such I think it is a great tool. Take care CHAD
First off I’d like to say you and Sean are awesome.
Second I leave for an orientation to work for Swift, is there any advice you can give me about trip planning including expanding on what you’ve already mentioned. If you could email it to me I would greatly appreciate it.
Trucker Steve ROCKS!!!
Sean and I accept your kudos, thank you for that my brother. Tell me how swift works out for you, if you need any advice along the way make sure to call me the number is on my website.
yeah great advice Steve, yes think you should run a tutorial or something about it.
as even though I will kind of be a newbie when I get my licenses, I will have the advantage over others as in a lot will have been taught to me by my grandfather, and his drivers. (but think I need a refresher, as most of what I learned was from before the early 90′s!!)
Thanks brother, I should work on it at some point it will be a long one! Video format would simplify it I will have a tutorial at some point as well. Take care Michael
Great read, well written and helpful. Good stuff.
Thank you very much, I have been enjoying reading your blog and intend to keep up with your blog.
Yes, please do a trip planning tutorial! It’s really hard to find good info on trip planning. Thanks Steve!
Steve
hey..i just glance at the map and sorta see what direction i am supposed to be going and use my compass to get to my destination.
10/4 driver, thanks for letting me know how you get down! How are you doing anyhow, what terminal you out of?
Man, i am doing good.. i get more than 1,000 miles a week. My trainer said I was the best student EVER!!! I only took off one mirror on the truck so far and he thinks that is a record setting performance. I am out of the Maryland terminal. I run the whole northeast portion of the country.
Thanks for you channel and your support of all of us new drivers out here..
SwiftDriver…
Jeezz Steve im glad I didnt make that kind of a mistake when you were training me back in 2007 you were a great trainer had lots of fun I still work for May Trk local
Josh- DUDE, thanks for checking out my website bro. You never would have done this you where always a great driver. I have missed you man how have you been doing?
Hi i was wondering if you still drive for swift? And how is swift? iam going to oreniation for swift on the 15th of june? thanks matt
Awesome… LOL Sweeeeeeeeeeeet
there are so many options of what a driver can do and should not do that after a while it really is sad to see videos like this. keep your mind open ,think, use some common sense , make something up ,do something random , do as you please, there is always another way to do this job but if you are locked onto only one, then you will lose sight of all the others and this stuff happens
You never disappoint,man. Half of the time,you are “bat shit crazy” but you know when to get serious. Thanks for all the information you put out there.
Steve i love to read your blog, iam thinking of going to school to drive myself, i too had a father that was a truck driver, i always went with him durring the summer, i truly enjoyed it . i have had my family and children are grown and i really want to get out there, the company i have been thinking of training with is in dallas (stevens transport) do you know anything of them? i do know my other half is going to freak on me but he worked out of town for 18 years and i was with the children at home and now that they are grown im bored and want adventure. and i love to drive….what ya think?
I am up in Surrey, BC and yet to get my first trucking job. I've Been licensed since September 2008. What are the things rookies need to know about when working with their driver trainer and how do I get the best out of my driver trainer?
Thank’s Steve for all you do. I’m going to do a career change at 46. I have been out of the seat for a while and I’m gettin back in Feb. I enjoy your very helpful and informative video’s. Keep it up man!
I was in the dreaded state of NJ last year. Wrong directions and not to mention the friggin roads up there are f’d up…. It took me 2 days to find the receiver. I used my laptop, atlas, called the receiver and then called my company. Finally I met up with a O/O who was going to the same place I was.. After about 1 1/2 hours we finally found that place. But on the first day, the receiver had sent me down the wrong road. When the guy answered the phone I knew I was in trouble because of the way he was acting. Anyhow he lead me down a residential area. About 200 yrds up the road I knew I was up the creek. A power line hanging 10ft from the ground was right in front of me. Thank God I was only going about 3 mph and no one was behind me (tailgating). Had that been the case I would have been in some real SH*T!! So what did I do? And here’s a piece of advise to all rookies or new guys out there. DON’T PANIC. This I did not do. Panicking will lead you in a world of hurt. I got out and called the police.. They were a little pissed but imagine if I would have hit that power line how pissed they would have been? They guided me back to a grocery store while backing up. Told me where to go. Then checked my license and away I was. Safely and in one piece. Needless to say not fried like last nights chicken. I still ended up being lost cause they failed to mention a key piece of info on how to get to my destination. But I was glad to be where I was and not f’d up in downtown Pennsauken N.J. Thanks Steve for your great articles on here. Keep it up man!!!