Profile For Red Beard

Any accidents you've had with a year of todays date that make it on to your record are going to be accompanied by violation points that are multiplied by 3. I'm assuming here, but it sounds line the faux 3rd incident wasnt faux to the reporting officer. If a report was filed by the officer then there was a citation associated.

Also, any time damage is caused by a truck or trailer, it is going to be cited as a moving violation. If you get more than one moving violation, it gets very expensive to cover a driver on insurance. This is why they have the multiple of 3 for the 1st year after a violation. It's a money making strategy for insurance companies, in my opinion. ;-) This makes it difficult for us drivers none the less.

There are ways to go about getting the violations on your license removed, but it is going to cost you money to hire representation.

If you are uncomfortable in tight spaces, try getting into the truck stops earlier when note room is available. These times vary depending on the truck stop. They have apps now that give you an idea of peak times for the lot in question. You can also search for more "unknown" spots that may be a little further off the big road, but are more space friendly for the full rig. I typically try and find these spots during my trip plan. You can use apps and maps to scope these places out pretty easy. Hope this helps. Good luck.

The 1st portion of school is going to be in the classroom. You are going to be preparing to take the exams necessary to obtain a learner's permit. These include the general knowledge, brake test and vehicle inspection if I remember correctly.

Once you pass the tests in the classroom and obtain a permit, you will go out to the yard area and learn maneuvers. Straight back, parallel both sides, and 90 to drivers side. Most important of these 3 is straight back imo. You always want to position yourself to go in reverse as close to straight back as you can.

Once you are proficient on the yard and there is room to sit in a road truck, you will be taken out on a route to learn shifting past 1st or 2nd gear. Once you get comfortable out there, you will be scheduled for a final road test.

There is alot of material that you can review online prior to getting to class. Good luck.

% of pay gets tricky if you aren't all that experienced on how loads are ultimately paid out. Ita also hard to truly know what a load is paying unless you are also going to be the dispatcher scheduling that load. Dispatchers have been known to only provide you with the flat rate of a total trip. Typically carriers will exclude any layover or detention pay if you are a % driver as well.

The math tends to work out almost the same at the end of the day. Some weeks you are gonna make more on %, some weeks you would make more on CPM. Personally I prefer CPM or hourly because you are trading time for $. When you are on %, you now have to figure in rates of where you are and where your headed. If you have an experienced dispatcher with a well developed network, % can be good.

If you do have a job that pays a percentage, I would definately ensure that you recieve a digital copy of the FINAL rate con. The final one will include all other surcharges that you might be entitled to that aren't going to show on the original.

Nothing to disagree with here. I believe the companies have skewed the proper use of the words "dedicated" and "regional" obviously as a recruiting tool for new drivers. I was on a "dedicated" route in Missouri for 6 months. In that time frame I drove to Maine, Florida to California and back; probably twice if I think about it. Dedicated means nothing more than what's already been covered here already. Regional might mean the 48 contiguous to the boss of the company. Be sure to ask specific questions if you have needs. Don't assume anything.

Great post Old School.

90 degree backing can mess up a 30 yr veteran if he is fatigued. Trust... I've seen it happened more than once. I always tell guys to try and imagine a school cone 3 feet away from the front bumper to the drivers side truck your backing towards. Never let your trailer tire get inside that zone. Once you get that back tandem tire on that spot, shove it in until it looks almost parallel with the other truck and then get straight with your trailer. Easy to say, right?

I get it, but we were all there. When I was first learning I would ALWAYS slide my tandems closer to the 5th wheel regardless of weight totals. I would just remember to place them back before hitting the big road. This allowed me to become comfortable and get used to doing it with my tractor keeping some of the variables the same.

If/when you find yourself with idle time waiting on a load from your favorite dispatcher, practice. Especially during low traffic times in the big named truckstops. This is what I did to help me get used to 90 backing.

Tip though... if it's taking you more than 5 or 10 mins and you can see truckers are waiting in a line, straighten up and allow the traffic to flow by. Regroup and remove the anxiety of having to hurry up to get it in the hole. Good luck out there.

If you have never taken the exam before and are not familiar with the acronyms and procedures of transporting hazmat then I would suggest going online and finding free practice exams. Those helped prep me the most for passing the exam.

I went to several websites that offered practice exams and took them over and over until I could ace them. Try and find updated sites that aren't too old to ensure your being quizzed on the latest material/ dot requirements. Good luck!

There's an open regional spot with Knight running Hazmat back and forth between Kansas City and Denver that I'm considering taking, 4 days on 2 off -- I'm gonna use the High Road stuff to dig into that but also wanted to see if anyone here has any other tidbits that may not be there?

As far as recap hrs go, you will never run out of time in a 70 hr week if you can keep your on duty and drive time under 10 hrs a day in a 24 hr period. Not to sound like Capt. Obvious or anything.

The total number of hrs worked on day 1 will "recap" on day 8. The total worked from day 2 will "recap" on day 9, etc.

There is obviously more factors and hypetheticals that can play a role, but this is the meat and potatoes of recap hrs.

Read a lot of threads about management of your time on the road, but am still struggling to understand it all. I know you guys try to explain it as clearly as possible but I’m just not getting it rn. I really want to though because from what I have read it really is an important aspect of being a truck driver. I’m hoping it will sink in eventually. I feel so dumb.

I still struggle with it sometimes too, don't feel bad. It's not hard for me to manage my hours since I work a 5 day week. All I have to do is not work more than 14 hours. You need a 10 hour break between shifts.

First you have daily rules: you can't be on duty more than 14 hours. You can't drive for more than 11 and you're required to take a 30 min break before hour 8.

Weekly: you can not work more than 70 hours in a rolling 8 day period. If you hit hour 70 within those 8 days you have to take a 34 hour reset.

Recaps is where I get confused because it's hard for me to keep track of hours. I know there are apps that do it for you, all you do is plug in the numbers but I have found one that works for me. I work with a guy that works 7 days a week and never hits 70 in an 8. I'm sure people on here can explain this in a way that makes sense and do a better job of it than I can.