Driving Fears Or Anxiety

@keep-it-real

There will be times you will have to go on 2 lanes in the mountains where there are drop offs. The you got mountain passes like Donners Pass or Mount Eagle. Or the Cabbage out west. Not to mention the are some really tall narrow bridges we have to drive across.

To be honest it's not something that most people think about. If you have very stressful moments like you described while in a car then you might want to rethink this choice cause sitting in the driver seat of a truck you are higher up and therefore have more visibility of these things that cause you stress.

Now add that extra stress you have to the incredible amount of stress we face out here on a day to day basis and I am thinking that could end up being a very deadly situation.

When things are good out here on the road they are incredibly boring but when things start to go wrong they go bad in a hurry and you may only have seconds to make a life or death decision.

You should be sure to sign on with a company that does not use forced dispatch, where you have a chance to look at a map before this accept a load.

Do drivers always have a choice on what loads to accept?

You should be sure to sign on with a company that does not use forced dispatch, where you have a chance to look at a map before this accept a load.

Do drivers always have a choice on what loads to accept?

Forced dispatched means you go where they tell you tell. No choice.

Do drivers always have a choice on what loads to accept?

Forced dispatch is up to the company. And it is just like GuyJax says - it's yours now go do it. However, the "non-forced" dispatch does not really give you an option. You certainly could have a legitimate reason* but if it's a lot of "I don't like big cities" kind of thing, you can expect to be sitting around waiting. And waiting some more.

*my reason: I had already scheduled home time in Memphis for the coming weekend. I got offered a dispatch that would have me deliver in southern Georgia on that Saturday. I explained that & said no. (and I feel many planners do not look at driver HOS time or other requirements.)

Have any buddies who have a big RV? You might try riding along with/driving with them for a few trips through those areas to see how bad it'll be for you. I remember riding in the passenger seat of my grandfather's RV & feeling like I was flying on some winding mountain roads going through CO.