Profile For Stewart A.

My boss works out of our Denton facility. Does that count? Oh and I had a layover flight in Dallas coming back from Hawaii years ago.

Bill, of the two you mentioned I would definitely go with ATS (American Truck Simulator). With their upgrade in the scaling department it has helped with one of their short comings of time. It is more realistic now but still not a one to one with real life. As mentioned you can get a number of mods as well as gaming equipment to help with your experience.

They have a very good sister to this program which is ETS2 (European Truck Simulator 2). The one big downfall of this one for drivers here in the US is that all their trucks are cab overs. Other than that it is very good and you can drive across much of Europe with plenty of tunnels and switchback roads over the mountains. You can also get screwed up pretty good sometimes driving in England on the wrong side of the road and have the choice of your controls being right or left side.

Either way, for me the two biggest short comings for realism is that there is no bumper to bumper slow rush hour traffic or accident causing traffic (unless it is you), and with the reduced scaling there are a number of corners that are sharper than you would have in real life on the interstates. The problem is you still go around those just as fast if you want to keep up with traffic as if they were much less sharp. I also don't like the fact that you can't get out and walk around your truck for GOAL or inspection or hook up of the trailer. It is nice now that you can miss the kingpin and you have to wait a moment for the landing gear crank to activate which are steps in the right direction.

With that said, I personally love both of these simulators and have seen one set up on You Tube of a guy who had everything including retarder switch and gauges. It must have cost a bundle.

If you're dealing with just one set of drives spinning and you are desperate, you can use a blanket as well wadded up a little bit. If you find yourself on just black ice on a smooth surface then spread the blanket out. You may very well ruin your blanket but it can make a big difference. If you are out in the country and no one will care, you could use small branches from trees. Evergreens would be best with all the needles still on.

I know a guy who is a computer programmer at Tom Tom in Lebanon NH, or at least the last that I knew he was still there. I don't know if they work on the one used by commercial trucking or just typical 4 wheelers but I would be happy to try and pass on any questions or concerns etc. to him. He may or may not be able to get it to the right people.

You could send anything to a personal email for me: stewart2770@gmail.com

Keep in mind a key word in the test, "Forced" whisper. This is not a typical whisper where you are trying to not let others nearby hear what you are saying to someone. This is a whisper that is intended to project over distance or other noises. I had it for not only the DOT physical but also for each one for my Private Pilot physicals. So far each of those has been the question, "Can you hear me"? Even if you can't make out specifically what the words are, you could always answer with "I can hear you", which in either case might be acceptable.

Good luck and I'm sure your husband never has a problem hearing you right?

You could run over to Europe and see all the cab overs you want. I'm sure they have improved the ride over what we had here but there's still no way to improve it like sitting between the wheels instead of right over them. In spite of them being cab overs, there are some pretty sweet rides in Europe too.

Igor, one more thing you can try to help is before you leave for your appointment, take 10 to 15 minutes to just do slow deep breathing and just be quite. Listen to music or whatever helps you to feel as relaxed as possible. As soon as you arrive at your appointment, do more deep slow breathing and just relaxing.

I know it's not easy because most people are going to naturally be more anxious before getting their BP since it is a pass or fail issue and the failing is what so many are worried about. One of the things that happens when we are in that situation is our breathing gets more rapid and more shallow. That can lead to less oxygen in our blood stream when we actually need more because of the nervousness and the body naturally ups the BP to compensate. If we breath deeper then more oxygen gets into our blood stream and there is less of a need for the heart to pump harder to get enough of it into all the areas that need it.

I wish you well and God Bless you too!

I realize this is an old thread but I have just come across it and there is something else in this that most people miss. It's not your fault because it is pretty typical of most people including myself some days.

It was mentioned in this to pray for the families and those that this tragedy affected. While technically covered by the statement they still are usually left out of the equation, and they are the "First Responders".

Having been a volunteer firefighter for about 13 years, a part time police officer for 12 and an EMT for 8, I have seen, along with all those with me, a number of tragedies. Sometimes they are the ones that hear the last breaths, words and painful groans of the dying people while trying their best to change the outcome. They are the ones that have to deal with the horrible visual sites. They are the ones that often have to deal with the what if's, when a person dies. What if they had done something a little differently, what if they had taken that extra chance, what if they had... maybe they would still be alive.

When you pass by these accidents on the road or read about them in your newspaper or watch the report on TV, please remember those officers, firemen, and EMT's as well as the family and friends. Some of these men and women are traumatized for life and leave their jobs. Some deal with PTSD and some become abusive and or suicidal.

I'm not jumping on either side of this topic as I could support and find fault with both. I would echo one point mentioned already which is that for some time to come, even as these autonomous trucks come on the market, there will be the need for a real driver to be present. I can't imagine that it will be any time soon that they will be finding their way around a building to locate that right dock and avoid or take another route because of obstructions or construction that won't permit normal access.

That being said I would very much support advanced technology such as the radar to help when driving into a fog bank or blowing snow white outs that could alert you to the vehicle that slammed on it's brakes and stopped in the middle of the road in front of you or the accident that just occured because it happened to someone else. Similar to that, technology that when you have been in an accident that your vehicle broadcasts a signal to oncoming traffic and with the radar in the oncoming vehicles, starts taking defensive action if you aren't. I am especially thinking of that video post I saw on T.T. of the snow storm and multi truck pile up that a lady was recording from the opposite interstate lane. That just about made me sick to my stomach watching and listening to those trucks slamming together.

One more piece of technology I wouldn't mind seeing is a back up camera for trailers. Whether hard wired in to new trailers or a portable one you could slap on the back at each stop and via blu tooth or similar, you could see on your phone or dash screen what is happening back there.

My two cents.

Very nice job Brett! It's also nice to have a voice to go with the face and you've got a good one for these pod casts. And now we also know you can play piano and who knows what else is up your talented sleeve! For some of us dreamers I think it will also help keep us grounded a little better and not go into this riding the highs just to get slapped in the face with some of the other realities.

God Bless all of you who have made a go of this career and thank you for your service!