Profile For Mud Flap

Im not lisensed yet but plan to be soon...what can I get started on right now?

One thing I did early on that I found very helpful was to put together a document containing my 10-year employment history. You know, start dates, end dates, addresses, phone numbers, supervisors' names, etc. You will need this information for any and every company you apply to, and if you have it all together in one document, it will be much easier for you to fill out job applications. Also, don't leave anything out. Even if it was a part time temporary job that you worked at for a couple months. There is a good chance it will come up, and if you leave it off, it could be a problem.

Is age a factor?

I am 50 years old and in good health. Should I be worried that I won't be hired at my age? I don't have high blood pressure or anything. I do take cholesterol medicine but thats it! My eyesight is good long distance...I just passed the eye test with my regular drivers license last month..I do use cheap reading glasses to read small print though...

Can anybody tell me what the physical covers and if anything above should be a concern?

Damn, dude. You're old.

Kidding ... I just turned 51, and I started driving six months ago.

Ok the TruckingTruth research arm is looking into this one but so far we have this:

Adverse Driving Conditions Exception

If unexpected adverse driving conditions slow you down, you may drive up to 2 additional hours to complete what could have been driven in normal conditions. This means you could drive for up to 13 hours, which is 2 hours more than allowed under normal conditions. "Adverse driving conditions" means conditions that you did not know about when you began your trip like snow, fog, or a road closure due to a crash. Adverse driving conditions do not include situations that you should have known about through proper trip planning, such as congested traffic during typical "rush hour" periods. Even though you may drive 2 extra hours under this exception, you are not allowed to drive after the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty.

So Daniel you're right - it is opinionated - but that's the nature of the Adverse Driving Conditions Exception. In your opinion you could have made it legally if it wasn't for something happening that was completely unexpected like a traffic accident or a sinkhole in the highway. But poor weather that was forecasted or regular rush hour traffic would not count because those things were not unexpected.

We're still looking into the "safe haven" aspect of this to see if anything exists with that term in it.

(b) Driving conditions —(1) Adverse driving conditions. Except as provided in paragraph (h)(2) of this section, a driver who encounters adverse driving conditions, as defined in § 395.2, and cannot, because of those conditions, safely complete the run within the maximum driving time permitted by §§ 395.3(a) or 395.5(a) may drive and be permitted or required to drive a commercial motor vehicle for not more than 2 additional hours beyond the maximum time allowed under §§ 395.3(a) or 395.5(a) to complete that run or to reach a place offering safety for the occupants of the commercial motor vehicle and security for the commercial motor vehicle and its cargo.

(2) Emergency conditions. In case of any emergency, a driver may complete his/her run without being in violation of the provisions of the regulations in this part, if such run reasonably could have been completed absent the emergency.

The above is 395.1 cut and pasted from the FMCSA. I bolded the part about "a place offering safety," aka "safe haven." That's where the term comes from, and it is permitted within the law. However, I don't think being delayed at a shipper or receiver would count as an unforeseeable delay.

I have an opportunity to get one of these linehaul positions. Applied today as a matter of fact.

I was also wondering, as someone asked, what happens if you get delayed for some reason (snow or ice or whatever) and you are up against your hours?

Anyone know how they deal with this as far as making up the delivery, retribution and the like?

Thanks,

If you run out of hours, LTL companies will put you up in a hotel where you can do your 10 hours. You just have to call in and let them know ahead of time. They'll re-route you to the nearest terminal, and send you to a hotel from there. A couple terminals at my company actually have rooms for drivers, but for the most part, it's a hotel.

As far as retribution, there is none. As long as you've been driving all day and not doing something else, if traffic or weather delays you, you have to stop when you run out of hours.

> Stay on top of paperwork, by the end of the day, it's super hard to remember what I did or where I was that morning!

> Put things away as soon as I am done using them. Clean up/wipe down things immediately. That small space gets really messy in a hurry.

> Sometimes moving the tandems all the way forward will get me in or out of a tight spot, them move 'em back.

Good stuff. I don't pull any trailers with sliding tandems, but I can see how that can help.

So I just finished my second week of training. At the halfway point, I feel like I have learned a lot, but I know I have a ton more to learn, practice, and get better at.

A month of training seemed like a long time before I got started, but now, it's going to be over in a blink of an eye. This week I drove 2,240 miles, and that is only because we had Memorial Day off. Otherwise it would have been 2,800.

On the return trip yesterday, I started thinking about a list of things I have learned in the past 2 weeks, and here is what I came up with. It's definitely not complete, so hopefully people will add to it, and we can all have some fun with this.

>Never pass a toilet. Need I say more?

>Cold coffee is still coffee. I'm starting to see that actually finishing a cup of coffee while it is still hot is a luxury.

>Your 30-minute service break is your best friend. It's amazing how refreshing a 15 or 20 minute nap is.

>Anticipate everything and anything. I've already seen quite a collection of stupid 4-wheeler tricks.

>I'm trying to drive within my comfort zone. Sometimes, going 2 or 3 miles per hour slower saves me a lot of stress, and it's not costing any time. There are a few parts of our run that my trainer calls, "No Fly Zones."

>Driving and shifting are the easy part. Maneuvering a trailer around a tight yard is hard. Alley docking between a couple of cones is a lot different than putting a trailer in a tight spot between two other trailers.

>Be systematic, be systematic, and then be systematic some more. I'm trying to do everything the same way (the right way) when it comes to hooking up, inspections, etc.

>Don’t remember if you checked it? Climb down and walk around the truck again. An experienced driver told me this the other day. (And the extra exercise won't kill me either).

>Lower your landing gear (or raise it). I saw a veteran driver drop a trailer on the ground the other day. My trainer is beating into my head to lower the landing gear first, disconnect the lines second, and pull the pin last.

>I'm amazed how quickly 80,000 lbs. picks up speed downhill. I've been over speed a couple times already, and it wasn't on any long hills.

I know there's been more already, and I know there's a whole lot more learning to come.

I just started training as a linehaul driver for an LTL trucking company.

About 6 or 7 months ago, I decided I needed to change careers, and driving came up on my radar. Initially, I was convinced that there was no way to break into the business other than going OTR for at least a year, but this site, and specifically a thread by 6 string about landing an LTL job as a rookie driver showed me there is another way to go.

I have thanked 6 string via email several times, but I wanted to post this publicly to make sure anyone considering a driving career reads his posts.

I also want to thank Brett for putting this site together. When I was studying for my CDL written tests, my CDL school gave us a CD with a ton of practice questions and answers. But the way Trucking Truth's High Road Training is set up really prepared me for the tests. I ended up passing General Knowledge, Combinations, Air Brakes, Doubles/Triples, Tankers, and Hazmat exams all on the same day and all on the first try. I'm not trying to say I'm so smart, but the point is that Trucking Truth's CDL study guide really gets you well prepared.

Also, if anyone is in Northern New Jersey and looking for a CDL school, you have to take a long look at Jersey Tractor Trailer Training. In my opinion, they are a great school for a variety of reasons. First, they only give one on one driving lessons. Because of that, they are able to get you ready for your road test in about half the time that other schools take. Plus, they are a lot less expensive than any other school I found in this ares.

And finally, I want to say thanks to all the veteran and new drivers who post on this site. Reading through the threads in this forum, you can pick up a ton of knowledge, and I truly have.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you all.