Question for the Truckers Out There...

Question

I am about to complete my CDL training and and will be starting to train with a company soon. my questions are;

1) how hard is it to adjust to the long hours when first starting and does it get easier as time passes?

2) is it very easy to become overweight due to the long hours of inactivity and the sleeping you will want to do whenever you get a chance? Is it difficult to eat healthy?

3) How are breaks between driving broken up? do you continue for like 14 straight hours and rest for 8-10 or do you break for a couple hours at a time?

Any answers are so very much appreciated and any additional information that you would care to share with a newbie starting my brand new lifestyle and career would be as well.

Thanks!!

Answer 1

We'll, for starters, it definitely is a lifestyle not just a job.  So you have that part right.

1 - Yes, it is hard to adjust in the beginning, but it will get easier in time when you learn what works for you and your 'body clock'.

2 - It can be quite easy to put on weight if you continually eat the unhealthy food served at truck stops and you do not move about.  Take food from home in a portable fridge... stay properly hydrated... and use your 'down time' to walk/stretch/tone, etc.  Lots of drivers take small weights in their trucks to help keep in shape.  I have even seen some with small portable bicycles strapped to the back of their tractors.

3 - Get someone in your Safety Dept to properly teach you about the Hours of Service Rules.  There is a limit to 'driving' hours... 'on duty' hours... and your stop/start times have limits as well.  There are different ways to keep your log depending on whether you are single or team or highway or local.  

Good luck... and keep the shiny side up !

Answer 2

I was born & raised in trucking. I've been at it now for almost 16 1/2 years now. Yes the hours can & will be long and tiresome. Not only do you spend the day & or nite driving, your time is spent waiting for a load, fueling up at the truckstops, waiting to deliver a load because your customer won't open till the following Monday if you've reached your destination on a late Friday afternoon or evening unless you can set up an appointment, or you have to wait at a truckstop somewhere for 2-3-4-or more days just to find a load for delivery.

One's health is entirely up to the individual driver and yes it is hard to eat healthy at times. Most any major truckstop like the "Flying J" 's,

"T/A" 's, or the "Petros" truckstops have a healthy food orders in their menus. If you end up waiting for a few days at a truckstop, you can do your own type of exercising or jogging around the parking lot. Go do some shopping or looking around about town so you can get walking exercise.

For your driving, when you are an over-the-road driver, you can drive

on duty legally for 11 hrs in a 14-hr period. This includes your on duty not driving such as your pre/post trip inspections, load/unload times,

breakdowns, & fuel stops. If you are a local driver such as in construc-

tion hauls to jobsites like hauling dirt, sand, gravel, asphalt, or any

other local run, you can drive up to & no more than 12-hrs in a 24-hr

period. This local haul is made up of a driving radius of no more than

100 air miles. After you drive for your 11 hrs over the road or for your

local 12 hrs you have to take a manditory 10 hour break that constists of 10 hr sleeper birth or an 8-hr sleeper birth with a 2-hr off duty not

driving consecitive break to make this a 10 hr break. If you drive locally, then you can rest at your home, providing that is where your local job is at.You have a choice to do this all in a 70-hr/8 day work week or a 60-hr/7 day work week. At the end of these here work weeks, your working on duty driving/not driving hours, I believe will reset in either 31 hours or maybe 34 hours! I hope that I was of some help to you. Maybe there are others that will help you out more than I have tried to here. Best of luck to you out there. "Be safe out there",

"have a good ride", keep er safe between the lines", & "keep the

shiney side up" as we tell each other out here on the highways. Oh!

one more thing. Find youself a good "C.B. handle"!!  I go by the,

"Bionic Trucker"!!    [e-mail]      God Bless