Profile For Running Bear K.

Hey Rookie I am glad you are OK, great story for everyone not just those who are starting but veteran as myself with over 35 years of experience. The unfortunate of your accident reminds us all just how dangerous this job is. We ALL need to be reminded daily these are not toy's they are a 40 ton killing machine. When I was a trainer, I use to make my students yell out every time they reached for that door handled. " This is a 40 ton killing machine and I am the only one in control" Maybe something to remember for all as they open that door and climb in.

I have over 35 year with no tickets or accident, and most would say that is good. But your people at your company are right about the 2's. The longer you go with no ticket or accident your window narrows as to having one. In my experience it is overconfidence and usually a failure to do one step, for every step you learn in training is an important one. If it were not they would not teach it to you. I always say there are NO Mistake's in trucking because it could be your last one or someone else.

I am glad everything turn out for you and do not be to hard on yourself, one thing is for sure it happen early in your career and a good but expensive way to learn it, and to be honest and I am sure your boss knows this. But most new truckers have some sort of incidences or accident within the first 90 days being on there own. This is why you are put with trainers for weeks at a time. It takes the human mind 90 days to develop good and bad habits. So you are put with a good trainer to copy his hopefully good habits. Most trainers have experience with no accident so they have accomplished good habits in driving. But that does not mean they are the best. There is always some better and there is always room for improvement. It is when you stop thinking that is when you start to have problems. NO ONE is the best.

So remember ALL the rules of the road, DO ALL the PTI before and after and just remember to be the professional out there we know what we are doing we do it everyday, 4 wheels do not.

Good Luck and Be Safe

Running Bear Knight

Jesus you guys are young 1993 Brett? Damn I just realize how old I was. I was in special forces out of school came back from Nam, jumped in a truck with a friend who taught me how to drive the year was 1875, felt like it 1975, no schooling learned how to grind gears very well. Here one for you, I learned how to drive on a 18 speed double stick. Anyone know what that is? If so tell me, if you want to know ask me. Always been around these rigs, now I own some and repair large construction equipment and cranes up to 400 tons, well I do not my guys do, I just run the place. Most repairs are handled by insurance companies so getting paid is no problem.

Who you calling OLD, hell I am 61 people tell me I look 50, its never to old o learn anything, learning is knowledge, and knowledge is power. You having lived so long have a lot to bring to the industry I am sure. Just on in with the rest and share what you got.

35 years drive no ticket no accident, 15 on OTR and trainer here. I never got bored. Always watching 4 wheels do stupid things was my entertainment. Along with looking at places I had never been. Even when I drove the same route I always noticed something new. Counting the miles to get out of a state too LOL. When I started when the wheels were square, the CB was nice, but today with all the trash on it I do not dare turn it on especially with my kids in the truck. Ashame isn't it. I think the big difference is in a car you are more comfortable and that why people fall asleep, but in a rig, for me I never have gotten sleepy, something about being up high and a bigger vehicle I guess

Brett is correct guys, ask the school who comes in before you graduates to per-interview and hire. A good school non trucking company school will have you placed or at least have you job offers before you finish. And a good trucking company will have you on the road with a trainer for at least 4 to 6 weeks. I have said this before guys, no matter how good you do in school, it is the experience that keeps you out of trouble. Here is how and why I say 4 to 6 week.

It takes the brain that long to create a habit good or bad. You are put hopefully with a trainer who has good habits, the idea is for you to get into a routine of his good habits. Practice what he does everyday. Just like parenting, our kids learn from us the same way a new truck driver would learn from a good truck driver. If your trainer (like I have seen a few) are greedy and you are just the mule for him then learn not to do what he does.

Take this with you, when I trained I use to make my trainee's say out loud every time they grab that door handle while getting in the truck for the first 5 days. " This is a 40 ton killing machine and 'I" am the only one in control". Remember that. Because in my book the only "accident" on the road is mother nature, a tree falling, hitting a deer etc., everything else is a WREAK, two people or more not wanting to yield the right away for another and use there cars as weapons. Always remember YOU are the professional, you do this everyday, four wheels do this for short periods of time and are not the professional.

This article What Is A DAC Report And How Will It Effect Your Job Opportunities? is right. DAC is just like the credit bureau, lame as sh--. They do inaccurate reporting and when you go to call them or attempt to repair any inaccurate report they do nothing. And why should they, you are not making them money not paying them anything. The trucking companies pay them a fee plus membership to get reports. Just like the credit Bureau, try to correct anything and its a act of god. Know that they side with what every a trucking company reports. The problem is trucking companies do not want to get up off there you know what and do there own work. Instead they are leaving it to companies like HireRight to make there decision for them.

I own 15 trucks and 22 box trucks, employ over 52 truckers, and I use to use there service. I had a driver who work for a large trucking company for 12 years. Never had an accident or wreck or ticket. He was involved in an wreck where no tickets were given and classified as a no fault accident. We know someone was at fault just could not tell. The company after his 12 years fired him and reported it to DAC as his fault. He claimed unemployment and received it. Now we all know how states HATE to pay unemployment, however without argument from the big trucking company he was working for they paid his unemployment. That told me right there he was wrongful discharged. I attempted to help him clean up his DAC report with no avail. Of course I hired him four years ago and he still has not had a accident or ticket he is a great safe driver. So DAC yea just like the credit reporting agency inaccurate and from a business owner stand point do your own back ground check.

Here is a TIP. Did you know that when you do a 10 year check with a state database or Fed database if the applicant does not list all his address they will not show up. In other words, let say he served time in FL. But now lives in VA. If he never list FL as an address the criminal records would not show up. The criminal records from one state to another does not communicate and neither does there database. The Fed's are the same way. The Fed's unless you do the fingerprinting and send them in is the only way any criminal activity show up on the Fed data base

I just order a refurbished TND 720 and used the coupon code, it still works, paid $ 197 with tax, free shipping UPS ground Bear

Well here is a first hand look at the new DOT Sleep Apnea for at least North Carolina. I went to get a renewal DOT medical card. It looks like the DOT as left it up to the discretion of the physician as to have you take the test or not. Here are the three areas. BMI ( Body Mass Index) Blood Pressure, Neck size. We all know about blood pressure. Your neck size for a man can not exceed 17" and your BMI no more than 35%. So my neck size was 16, OK, blood pressure , OK, but my BMI was 38%. So she called for a sleep study test because of my BMI. I order a home study test there are only three companies that do them at this writing. Cost me $249.00 You do it for one or two nights, then send the machine back they read it and give you a report you take back to the physician. Oh they give you a 90 medical card in order to get this done. Once you have the letter and take it in, you now have two choices. If it comes back and you DO NOT have sleep apnea the report is good for 5 years so keep it. They can only make you take the test every 5 years at that point. If the test results come back like mind which was very mild, you now have two choices. 1. buy the equipment to correct the problem with a card reader, or do nothing hang on to the report. They will issue you a one year card. The report is good for 2 years. So the next year you take the same report back in and get a renewal. Now the 3rd year you would either have had to correct the problem and take the card reader in with you so they could read the card within the last 30 days, or pay to have the sleep study done again. If you have extreme sleep apnea you will have to have the problem corrected. They will issue you again a 90 day card to correct or get the machine. By the way the machine from what I have seen start at about $300.00. To me its a scam and just another way of getting money from a truck driver.

Here is the funny part, I took the test to the physician who could not read it. I found out from my daughter in law who is in the health industry, that even doctors are have to take a 100 hour on line course and then go somewhere to take a written test to become or stay a DOT physician. So they are having to pay $2500 to do this so do not blame it on the doctors. Also I found out I guess since the physician could not comprehend the report I had to go back to the sleep study people to send me a letter that after getting the machine there seems to be a part in the regulations where is you only use the machine less than 70% of the time to regulate you pattern then you do not need the machine. But the only way to find this out of course is to pay $ 300 plus for the machine to see. See the scam here.

Here are some fax. Did you know that truck driving is listed as one of the top 10 most dangerous job in the world? And for that it is also one the lowest paying jobs. Coal Miners get paid $25 an hour just for 3 weeks of orientation. Then 35.00 an hour to start just to go into the mines.

I have been in this industry for almost 30 years. have 2/ 1 million mile safe driving awards. ( So I guess I am old school, I come from the days NO cell phone, NO GPS, you change your tire and fixed your truck, NO Qual Com) and for what drivers get paid to be away from home and live in a shoe box with a whooping 4 days off a month is not paid near what we should. I have seen the pay in the last few years come up, but still not enough. And with more and more DOT regulation and Medical restriction coming, for what a driver makes on a per hour bases it coming hard and hard to say we are close to minimum wage. Not hating the industries but the greed in the trucking companies. Think about it, if we are in such high demand then why are the wages so low. As a veteran driver making .55 a mile, companies look at me as an expense. When they can get a training out of school at .35 mile. It damn shame we can not unite ( not union) but unite together for what we really should be getting. We could control the country like the insurance companies do. Think about what you do. You drive, and if you work a 60 or 70 hour week you work the number of hours a 40 work person does in two years. So if you make 60K or 70K divide that in half, that is what you make in 1 year. a 70 work week for a truck is what a 40 hour person would take almost 2 week to make. Now I tell my trainee's if you are single, sell everything, do not own an apartment a car or have a girlfriend or boyfriend. Live in the truck stay on the road and in 10 years you could retire as a millionaire. But if you have a family, kids, do your time OTR for a year two at the most get some experience and then GO HOME, find a more local job. Because if you have a family this is no place to be an OTR, you will regret missing things in your child's life. No job is worth all that. If you want to know more about this area and retire in 10 let me know. I drive now because I want to not because I need to. I also drive locally so I am home every night

So if you have any questions or comments about the sleep apnea I would be glad to answer them.

Running Bear Knight ( yes that is my real name) bearh3526@yahoo.com

Hey good luck to you in your new adventure. And Brett is correct the truckers that wine all the time are the ones that have 8 jobs in 8 years. Job hoppers. Any company for the most part are not bad, it is all about attitude. Driving is attitude, getting along with others is attitude. It all about attitude and how one approaches things. That's with any company. You have learn a valuable lesson that the key to getting good loads and good pay is the relationship you build between you and a dispatcher. That my friend makes all the difference in the world. I remember when I drove for Gainey, after about 1 year I keep getting these what they call emergency loads. Example was like a impossible job. Picking a load out of southern GA and having it in Bangor ME in 2 days. They always paid an extra $ 300.00 on top of the pay. But the key was I was getting these load more often sometime 3 and 4 time a month. My dispatcher said he loved it because every time there was a load like this there planner would come to him because he knew he had a driver he could count on. So it did not take much time to know that I was reliable. With that in mind I always had a load waiting before I unload the the load I was on. That my friend is what make you the money. And this would apply to any trucking company, your good attitude and the give and take is what separates you from the boys. Remember if your wheels ain't rolling your doe any comin.

Bob best of luck, but really it is not luck. None of this has to do with credit, unemployment. When you are applying for a trucking job with no experience, its like throwing mud against the wall, apply with everyone and see what sticks, see who calls back. There are a ton of trucking jobs out here, so never stick with just one company and then do the wait and see game. The people you are applying with are recruiters, they are paid commission and if hired and stay 90 days the recruiter are paid. Recruiters lie, bottom line, they are salesman wanting to make the deal anyway they can.. They will tell you one thing and do another. USE this site ask questions there are enough of us truckers out here that can give you the insight over almost every company. Brett has done a great job with building this site, so use it to your advantage it will guide you where you need to be.