Comments By PR aka Road Hog

They want the guys to manually go through mapbooks and figure mileage, hours, etc. Any easy formula?

I use a 50 mph rule because its easy. Thats 2 hrs for every 100 miles. So, 800 miles = 16 hrs. I add an hour to that to cover my 30 min 'lunch break' and 2 bio breaks, plus an additional 30 mins for each fuel stop. Finally, if Im loaded heavy and going through the east coast mtns, I add another hour. Then I back track the time to allow me to arrive 2 hrs early and allot for any 10 hr breaks.

I know if I can drive all day, I can do 600 miles on flat surfaces, and around 550 miles on rolling terrain.

It works for me.

Part of my trip planning includes pulling up a weather app so I know what I may be heading into. If I see severe weather, I try to plan around it, or if I see I am approaching a storm, I again check my weather app. If it looks bad, I pull over and park it. Also, I have a company that sends out fleet messages warning about all kinds of things. Heavy winds and storms among them. I can't see any fleet manager being upset that you pulled over for an hour or two to let the storm pass.

My daughter has had a medical emergency which forced me home after 9 1/2 months. Due to the nature of the emergency, I need to stay at home for awhile to help my daughter through this period of her life. Thankfully the company I am working for has been very helpful in allowing me to come home, leave if necessary (on good terms - so I can have the opportunity to return). I believe it is in my daughter's best interest that I be at home, and there are plenty of job listings locally for CDL drivers. Several with as little as 6 mos experience. I have had (2) reportable incidents, both in parking lots, both with minimal damage. My questions are, How difficult will it be for me to get on with a local company considering my lack of a year exp and the 2 reportables? Even if I leave on good terms with my present company?

Thanks

It's all about the rpm's. When down shifting look to shift around 1100 rpm's. Push the clutch in about an inch or two and give a little gas to bring the rpm's up to around 1400. As your shifting the rpm's will fall into the 1200 range and it should slide right in. Don't sweat it too much. The tester knows you are new and they generally give you leeway. Heck, I actually stalled out and still passed

Well first off there is no guarantee that your instructor or trainer will be into football or sports. Crazy, I know, but they are out there. My instructor only listened to talk radio. Drove me nuts. My trainer hated pro sports and only listened to college games. As far as the Sunday ticket you will have to own your own truck Bd gave satellite put in an antennae and of course a tv. Sirrius radio offers a package where you can listen to the games. That's what I do. I don't get every game but at least I get my pigskin fix

Not much here but seems to me your interest in trucking is to get away from home If that is the case I say you are looking at this for all the wrong reasons. There's a saying ... No matter where you go, there you are. In other words you can't run away from your problems. 2nd anesthesiologist a make a better living. Ie better money which will allow you to move out. Again don't know your reasons but that is my two cents worth Is trucking worth it? For many it is for others it's not. Get in for the right reasons or don't

Good luck

DAC report is like a DMV report, only for commercial drivers.

You can request on Here

It's free or you can call them . Takes about 15 days to receive.

Companies will send accident, tickets, and various other info to your DAC file.

I think the dac just covers drug and alcohol incidents. I requested mine and it didn't have any traffic violations. For that I had to request my dmv record

The main point here is well said and that is not to rely on any one tool. They can and will get you in trouble. And that includes the Qualcomm. That being said I have tried all 3 and found as a personal preference the rand McNally suited me best. I use it in conjunction with my qc and google maps. Even then I only use it as an overview to get me close to me destination at which point I use the macro directions to get in. The macro lists the best way in to avoid weight restricted roads, low clearances, and dead end streets. Before I move an inch I map out my route with my atlas and then if my gps and qc are in agreement I let them lead the way

How in the world did he fail the sim test? It's a videogame. He must have done something extremely stupid like run over people or probably drove like he was playing Grand Theft Auto.

I really don't have an answer for you. There's very few ways you can fail it.

Wow Daniel that was harsh. First off it's not a video game it's a simulator. 2nd of all simulators can be very difficult to maneuver because they are not very realistic. The idea is to make it 3d using 3 screens but it can be quite confusing and makes many people nauseous. It even made me a bit light headed. Furthermore the "sim" does not handle like a real vehicle at all. So it us possible to fail. I would think as a moderator you would be more encouraging, insightful and understanding. One last note about the simulator, if it does messed with your eyes you can request an actual driving test. At least that's what they said to our group. As far as failing the written goes Ernie answered that. Good luck

Take it from me, pack your own tp and always have a wad in your pocket. The only thing rest stop tp is good for is wiping the seat clean. This isnt directed at any of the fine folks on this site, but i will say truckers in general are some nasty folks when it comes to toilets. They dont lift the seat, they dont flush and worse of sal, they dont wash their hands, which is why i dont shake with strangers, i do the howie mandel fist bump