Profile For Ken G.

Usually heart procedures and some medications require you to wait 90 days before driving commercially. It would be wise to spend the money and get a DOT physical before you go to school. You don't want to take any chances with this. Talk about it to the recruiter also.

But I definitely wouldn't overlook this, be sure to do your homework before going.

Thanks Daniel B., That is good advise. I had not thought about getting a DOT physical prior to school.

No.

Ken, there are a lot of folks out here on the highways who have had by-pass surgery. You will be fine. Medications will need to be approved but that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks old school. I have been on this site from time to time for a couple years now. I have had to jump through a lot of whoops and spend quite a bit of money in order to get my license back. I am very close to that goal. I intend to start CDL training in the fall if I can obtain some prehires. While there are issues that may affect my ability to land a job as an otr driver. It is great to know that this latest health issue will not affect my goal.

I recently had heart bypass surgery and now need to take meds. Will this fact keep me out of trucking?

So I got permission from Daniel B so that I didn't totally hijack his idea lol.

Even tho I'm not a veteran yet, this is the situation I had on the load I just delivered and I feel it fits into this category well. I'll try to give every piece of info I have and if you have any questions feel free to ask them.

So we start the day in Norfolk Virginia with full hours and 48 hours available on the 70. The pickup location is a small mom and pop cold storage run by a just a single man. There is no pickup appointment. Only instructions to call 1 hour before arriving.

The delivery is for 04:00 the next morning and the actual miles are 78 empty and 373 loaded.

On the previous night we were at a receiver until 21:00 with only enough time to drive to the truck stop down the road and shut down.

At 07:30 we're able to start the day with 78 miles to drive to the shipper and full tanks of fuel. The route is U.S. highway 17 until you reach the county road that the shipper is on.

So after 45 mph speed zones and construction, it takes 1:45 to arrive at the shipper and then 45 minutes to be loaded and ready to roll. It is now 10:00

So we've got 9:15 on our 11 hr clock, 11:30 on our 14 and the 70 is of no concern.

Now comes the issue. There is no certified scale close by. The route information we're given says to take highway 17 back to Norfolk then U.S. highway 13 for the majority of the trip.

Paperwork shows 40,601 pounds. I know that my tare weight (empty weight) with full tanks is approximately 36,000 lbs rounding up.

The nearest cat scale period is 43 miles in the opposite direction of the route we are supposed to take. The nearest scale on route is at the truck stop we left this morning. 78 miles away.

Looking at the atlas we know that we will not be crossing any weigh stations no matter which way we choose to do this.

So, do you drive out of route to the closer cat scale to ensure that your weights are legal, or do you stay on route and stop at the first scale you come to which is 78 miles away?

You do have the authority to go to the closer scale but you do have to then come back to the route given to continue the trip.

As always, vet guys please let the rookies have a fair crack at this before you jump in too much.

I would stay in route. This would save time. If you weighed and found you were over on legal gross weight you could always make decision at that point. If your weight is good you can make any axle adjustments and proceed. Thus saving a lot of time. Time is money.

Hey Ken, congratulations on the hard work you've been doing to stay sober, I salute you!

I agree with Phil, I don't think the SR-22 is going to have any effect on your ability to pursue getting a CDL. I'm a little concerned that you may need to have that license back for a period of one year before you can obtain your CDL. I'm not really sure about it, but that may be the case.

Here's what I would do if I were you. Get everything cleared up and paid, and get that license re-instated. As soon as that is done, and you have it in your pocket, go and talk to the folks at the DMV and tell them you just recently got your license re-instated and you would now like to know if you can go ahead and pursue getting a commercial drivers license. If they say it is okay, then I would start working on getting some pre-hire letters from trucking companies. Take a look at this link on Understanding Pre-Hires to help you understand what I'm talking about. If you can get some pre-hires then you will know that you are hire-able. Phil can tell you it can be difficult with a DUI on your record. The older it is the better off you will be, but if there are multiples it could be pretty dicey.

Don't waste any money on truck driving school until you know that you can get hired. You can always come in here and ask us questions as you progress toward this goal. We will do what ever we can to help steer you in the right direction.

Again, congratulations, and keep plugging away at this. Sometimes progress just takes a lot of little steps in the right direction until one day you realize you are there.

Thanks Old School. I intended on waiting till I had my license back for a year before applying for any pre-hires. I have read Understanding Pre-Hires. I have been coming to this site for a couple of years now for information and I have never left disappointed. This site is awesome and the people here are top notch. I may not always like the information I get here however I know it will be up front and honest and that is all anyone can ask for. Thank you.

Having an SR-22 for your personal car shouldn't even be a factor. But what will be a factor is your offenses. Since your MVR shows the date of the offense, not when you paid it or resolved it in court, my advice would be to keep quiet about the SR-22 unless asked. The age of your offenses and type of offense like DUI will be what matters. I had multiple DUI's (3) that were from 22 years ago and some companies look back 5-7 years, some have a one dui in a lifetime policy, and others will accept dui only with prior trucking experience, no matter how long ago it was. You can go to the DMV and obtain your complete MVR and see what it says, but I wouldn't worry about what type of auto insurance you are required to have, that should have little to no bearing on trucking.

Thanks for the information Phil C. I do have multiple dui's ranging from 1977- 1997. I have no violations from 97 till present. If they only go back 7 years should I list anything prior to that? They way I figure it is connected with homeland security so they can find out.

I have been working on getting my license back for a couple years. I had been under suspension for many years due to fines, court cost, and reinstatement fees. My actual offenses occurred over 15 years ago however I had reconciled myself to not driving until I had a minimum of seven years sobriety. I knew as long as I neglected to pay the fees and fines I would be unable to obtain a license. I will be getting my driving privileges back in January since all fines and fees will be paid by then.

One of the stipulations required is that I obtain high risk insurance. I will probably be required to maintain this for a three year period. My question is will I need to wait three years to be considered for employment in the trucking industry?

Felonies will never totally stop being an issue but they get better the longer it's been since you were in trouble. Since you do have a felony background you will need to keep your safety record almost completely clean.

It's been 17 years since I had done prison time and with some places it can still be an issue. The problem never goes a way. So there are two things you can do to get companies to over look your background. 1) have a perfect or near perfect safety record. 2) Longivity. The longer you stay at a job the easier it is to get another one later.

Thanks

Thanks. I appreciate you taking time to respond to my question.

Felonies will never totally stop being an issue but they get better the longer it's been since you were in trouble. Since you do have a felony background you will need to keep your safety record almost completely clean.

It's been 17 years since I had done prison time and with some places it can still be an issue. The problem never goes a way. So there are two things you can do to get companies to over look your background. 1) have a perfect or near perfect safety record. 2) Longivity. The longer you stay at a job the easier it is to get another one later.

Hello all' I would like opinions on getting hired after the first year. My problem is my driving record has issues the last was almost 20 years ago. And I had a felony 8 years ago. I know it will be difficult if not impossible to get hired. So if a company will take a chance on me would other companies tend to over look my past issues after a year or two of experience or would it continue to be an issue?