Ladies As Drivers?

Hi, Lady here. I'm curious as to what Male truck drivers think of the influx of female drivers now? Pros & cons? I currently live on the truck with my husband. We sold house, horses, vehicles and adopted out our dogs so I could ride 24/7. I told him I was very interested in getting my CDL and team drive. He said we would revisit that idea my next birthday so July 2020 when I'm 55. He is nervous to drive with me as I think is common with husbands and wives. But I've wanted to be a truck driver since I was 18. I moved from CA to MO and pulled my Dodge dually 3500 Laramie with the largest Lance on top (1191)while pulling azad 3 horse trailer. Also 15 years of maneuvering same truck and 3 horse trailer or 2 horse for 15 years. I know my own capabilities. Do any husband/wife teams run together as team drivers?

Thanks Melissa

Why do you feel your husband needs to allow you to drive? The year is 2019 and if my wife told me we will revisit the issue in a year I'm doing it now!

All I see is the truck itself. If a female is driving, I think good for her, that takes a lot of extra courage to jump into a male dominated profession. The number of female drivers is about 7% of all CDL holders.

I wouldn't really call it an influx anymore. Female drivers have become quite common.

The pros and cons will be up to you to decide. You're already living side-by-side 24/7, so you've figured out how to make that work. As a team, you'll see less of each other, since you'll be driving opposite shifts. A good team couple is highly sought-after, and can be very lucrative. All those miles going into one bank account...

No need to wait until you "revisit" the idea. You can get a jump on it right here, right now. You 'll probably even be able to teach him a thing or two. Check these links out, to get your feet wet.

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

You can also use the search bar above to look up past threads on the subject. Good luck!

There are tons of spouse teams out here. What you need to figure out is why he doesn't want to team. Teaming is very hard. You are literally doubling the amount of time that truck is rolling. But there may be other reasons he doesn't want to do it other than trusting your driving.

1.) Not everyone can sleep in a rolling truck, and everytime the brakes are pulled (you don't realize how often that is until you are trying to sleep through it) you get woken up. Sliding tandems , fueling, shippers, traffic jams. Even if you can do it now while he is driving, it doesnt mean he can. Lack of sleep is a safety issue. Also, now, if you cannot sleep while he is driving, you can while parked.

2.) You will spend less time together. Hubby might enjoy spending more time with you now. Especially if you guys are constantly talking, or you are cooking and cleaning. Expecting you to do the typical "wife duties" while also driving might be unreasonable in his mind. Spouses do it, but then duties may need to be shared. Now you can stop at a museum or rest area and stroll around. Teaming that would be someone's sleep time.

3.) He may be afraid he would get less sleep.... like a trainer. Most wives I know were trained by their husbands. Usually the man has significantly more experience. Hence, wives sometimes wake the husband up to back into docks, or ask them about routes/fueling. I have friends who have been driving with their hubbies for a decade but still wake them. It is easy to become dependent on him for "guy stuff". One couple worked things out that she would not drive more than 350 miles per day (impossible at many companies or divisions) and he would do all of the "guy stuff". She drives and does all the cleaning, cooking, paperwork. He wakes up when she drives into a customer and he backs in, drops the trailer, puts the load locks in... basically any physical or dirty work. Another couple treats him as the "boss" and her as the "employee" while in front of the curtain, behind the curtain she is the wife. This wouldn't work for me cause if he yelled at me for fueling at the wrong location i would tell him to shove it. One hubby had to come off the road due to illness and the wife was terrified to drive solo. With 10 years driving experience, she had him make all the decisions and the hard backing. Let's face it, men do not like telling wives no. So he would get up to back if you are upset. There is a reason he is telling you no now. you need to find out why.

Basically, it could change the dynamic of your relationship.and maybe he isn't willing to face that yet.

4.) Maybe he knows you expect him to train you. I know some spouses who had knock down drag out fights and a few even got off the truck or were kicked off and left at truck stops!

As far as women truckers? They are more commonplace now. Mechanics and other drivers do not flinch or stare. Some companies have a lot more women than others. I looked at the stats last year and Covenant and Prime were at 16% despite the national average being 7 to 8%. Swift has a lower percentage of women but because of the high number of drivers they have more women than some other companies.

Women in my opinion are treated better. Heres an article I wrote, and read the thread too. The comments show one woman who attacked.me... who she herself was casting the same sexism on other women that she complained men did. The men and other women were all in agreement with and supportive.

Sexism in Trucking

You might want to consider going through a training program yourself and going solo for a while. It will give you better skills and you could take home time together. It could make him want to team cause he would miss you so desperately. Or you could start asking a ton of questions without being obvious. Really watch him while driving, doing paperwork, asking about truck issues etc. Seem interested but not demanding. Then you can say later... "i have been watching you for a year. i only need to learn to back". lol makes training easier.

Why do you feel your husband needs to allow you to drive? The year is 2019 and if my wife told me we will revisit the issue in a year I'm doing it now!

Well, I'm from CA and always drove fine. Moved to Missouri and in less than a year got stuck in 2 ditches, one I was pushed into. One I backed into. I also got stuck in mud in my own backyard after rain trying to get my horse trailer out. Need 4WD in MO. Lol

I wouldn't really call it an influx anymore. Female drivers have become quite common.

The pros and cons will be up to you to decide. You're already living side-by-side 24/7, so you've figured out how to make that work. As a team, you'll see less of each other, since you'll be driving opposite shifts. A good team couple is highly sought-after, and can be very lucrative. All those miles going into one bank account...

No need to wait until you "revisit" the idea. You can get a jump on it right here, right now. You 'll probably even be able to teach him a thing or two. Check these links out, to get your feet wet.

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

You can also use the search bar above to look up past threads on the subject. Good

luck!

Thanks for all the links. I think a lot has to do with him being nervous as the passenger and we would see less of each other.

There are tons of spouse teams out here. What you need to figure out is why he doesn't want to team. Teaming is very hard. You are literally doubling the amount of time that truck is rolling. But there may be other reasons he doesn't want to do it other than trusting your driving.

1.) Not everyone can sleep in a rolling truck, and everytime the brakes are pulled (you don't realize how often that is until you are trying to sleep through it) you get woken up. Sliding tandems , fueling, shippers, traffic jams. Even if you can do it now while he is driving, it doesnt mean he can. Lack of sleep is a safety issue. Also, now, if you cannot sleep while he is driving, you can while parked.

2.) You will spend less time together. Hubby might enjoy spending more time with you now. Especially if you guys are constantly talking, or you are cooking and cleaning. Expecting you to do the typical "wife duties" while also driving might be unreasonable in his mind. Spouses do it, but then duties may need to be shared. Now you can stop at a museum or rest area and stroll around. Teaming that would be someone's sleep time.

3.) He may be afraid he would get less sleep.... like a trainer. Most wives I know were trained by their husbands. Usually the man has significantly more experience. Hence, wives sometimes wake the husband up to back into docks, or ask them about routes/fueling. I have friends who have been driving with their hubbies for a decade but still wake them. It is easy to become dependent on him for "guy stuff". One couple worked things out that she would not drive more than 350 miles per day (impossible at many companies or divisions) and he would do all of the "guy stuff". She drives and does all the cleaning, cooking, paperwork. He wakes up when she drives into a customer and he backs in, drops the trailer, puts the load locks in... basically any physical or dirty work. Another couple treats him as the "boss" and her as the "employee" while in front of the curtain, behind the curtain she is the wife. This wouldn't work for me cause if he yelled at me for fueling at the wrong location i would tell him to shove it. One hubby had to come off the road due to illness and the wife was terrified to drive solo. With 10 years driving experience, she had him make all the decisions and the hard backing. Let's face it, men do not like telling wives no. So he would get up to back if you are upset. There is a reason he is telling you no now. you need to find out why.

Basically, it could change the dynamic of your relationship.and maybe he isn't willing to face that yet.

4.) Maybe he knows you expect him to train you. I know some spouses who had knock down drag out fights and a few even got off the truck or were kicked off and left at truck stops!

As far as women truckers? They are more commonplace now. Mechanics and other drivers do not flinch or stare. Some companies have a lot more women than others. I looked at the stats last year and Covenant and Prime were at 16% despite the national average being 7 to 8%. Swift has a lower percentage of women but because of the high number of drivers they have more women than some other companies.

Women in my opinion are treated better. Heres an article I wrote, and read the thread too. The comments show one woman who attacked.me... who she herself was casting the same sexism on other women that she complained men did. The men and other women were all in agreement with and supportive.

Sexism in Trucking

You might want to consider going through a training program yourself and going solo for a while. It will give you better skills and you could take home time together. It could make him want to team cause he would miss you so desperately. Or you could start asking a ton of questions without being obvious. Really watch him while driving, doing paperwork, asking about truck issues etc. Seem interested but not demanding. Then you can say later... "i have been watching you for a year. i only need to learn to back". lol makes training easier.

I think you hit many nails on the head in your answer. Trust is one. I think a lot of men in general get nervous when their wives drive. He always says he would never be able to sleep when I was driving. I know when he was training he barely slept.

Plus the fighting. If I don't catch on quick enough, it will turn into a knock down drag out. As far as me waking him up to do things, I don't see that at all. I've always been independent and he's always been controlling. What a combo. Hence, the we'll revisit this next year.

It would cut into our together time for sure. I don't think we'd be able to take the mini vacations we wanted while driving.

I guess just wait and see.

Thanks