Profile For Ray W.

You also want to make sure you don't stop in the middle of the turn and block traffic. In many cases, stopping on a "right of way" (road) is an INSTANT FAIL.

Obviously - you don't want to cause an accident by continuing into the turn, if you misread traffic speeds and end up "in a crowd".

The best answer would be to wait until you are SURE you can completely execute the turn safely (no cross traffic), than jump in and have some 4-wheeler that's speeding, force you into making hasty moves to prevent a collision.

Rick

Got it. So effectively just never go unless you are 100% sure the turn can be made. Thanks for the information.

Are you sure you are going to encounter this scenario?

I'm not sure about the wisdom of gunning it and go during a road test. I'd think they want to see you being smooth and under control. Accelerate smoothly and make your way to your chosen lane. If someone starts coming after you've committed they can move over to the next lane.

Yes. Exit out of the school is right on a hill that curves around some thick woods. It's about 6 seconds of visibility tops. While it's not super busy, there is the what if aspect of it.

It takes a good 12 - 15 seconds to make a turn like that. Wait until you have plenty of clearance from ongoing traffic to make a turn like that.

Got it. What happens if you don't have 12 to 15 seconds of visibility? Say.. 5-8 seconds of visibility? Do you just gun it as soon as its clear? And thank you for the information.

Hey everyone! I passed my written exam! Now is pretrip and backing, Followed by the road test. I can manage pretrip and backing, but the road test has me worried. Its in the middle of the city where most roads are four-lane divided high ways.

My biggest fear? Coming up to a four lane high way from a two lane road and having to make a left turn while crossing both traffic. Keep in mind, There is no turning/merge lane. Its just a straight up cross both lanes of oncoming, Then merge into another lane of the right side.

With this being said, How do you know when its safe to do so? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. This is for the ROAD portion of the test.

I too once questioned Second Amendment rights for truckers. After much research, I learned that as much as I hated to admit it, As a trucker your second amendment right is gone. Why you ask? I have a permit for Tennessee. Well? Not every state honors that permit. And all it takes is one ****ed state trooper doing a search on me to land me a felony and cost me the job and possibly land me some prison time.

I can keep an employer from finding out my weapon. I have done it for years at my current employer. I have worked for them for 6 years. Carried my 9mm every single day, They never found out. That's because I carry deep concealed and unless you did a frisk and pat down, You would never find it. Even if you did frisk me, You'd still have to see it to know it was a gun, otherwise, I'd just say it was some very private medical device that I wasn't comfortable talking about. No employer is going to risk the legal repercussions of a strip search. An officer, however? They would be more than willing to risk it and would indeed be covered once they found the weapon.

They were trying to pass a law that forced all states to honor any permit provided by any state, But so far it has not been allowed to pass. Until that day comes where you can't be federally prosecuted just because that state doesn't honor your permit? You can't legally carry that weapon and have no second amendment right in this field of work. I am sorry my friend. That's just how it is.

Now for some who may question why you'd want to carry a weapon? Let me give you a fine example a friend of mine gave me once.

"Forced dispatch. While you can express distaste for certain areas, If they give you a load going to a particularly dangerous area such as Chicago or New York City? Well... You might as well find a new company to work for."

In my opinion, Chicago (Sorry people of Chicago, Its nothing personal) is nothing but a cesspool of crime and violence. While I have not started trucking, I dread the day a delivery to or from that forsaken place ever gets sent to that Qualcomm . I dread the thought of going there without some form of gun protection.

Leisure time varies from day to day, trip to trip. Some trips have more extra time between pickup and delivery than others. Some trips may only require driving 8hr per day, others you will be nearly maxing your 11hr driving clock each day. The extra 3 hrs available during the 14hr day are sometimes used at shipper/receiver, pre/post trip, breaks or emergency maintenance such as blown tire if needed. Most of this time is not paid unless you are receiving detention pay while waiting to be loaded/unloaded. You don't always use your full clock, I rarely do to be honest, most days I only use 9-11 hours of it. If you can park for your entire 10hr break at shipper/receiver it can help cut down on your used hours and help you run a more efficient clock than counterparts that believe they must always be at a truck stop for breaks, it's plain silliness to me, however not all customers allow "overnight " parking.

So if I am waiting to be unloaded at dock, That counts toward my 10 hours? Why am I waiting for them to unload it? Is there just not enough space or something, lack of manpower?

Well Ray not all your time will be used on any given day. Some days you'll be driving 8 and the next you may drive your 11. As far as using the whole 14, it happens occasionally but it's not typical.

A key for success in this industry for drivers is to maximize your daily clock so you can utilize it through the 8 day 70. If you drive hard and run 11 hr days you'll find yourself out of hours very quickly and sitting for 34hr resets on a regular basis. This will not only prove unprofitable in some cases it will probably cause your dispatcher acid reflux every time he has to repower your load to another driver.

I am constantly adjusting the hours I drive to maximize my time and profitability during the week. I have plenty of time to shower do laundry and catch some TV.

I see.. So I need to make sure I don't hit my 34 hour reset during a load that has a set time to arrive. So it sounds better to stretch your days out so you don't hit that 34 then.

I often split up the day by taking two hours either to nap or shower and eat..so I drive four to five hours then break...then drive the rest. But it is within my 14 clock. Also remember truck and trailer washouts in this time.

BTW....just because YOU can shower quickly doesn't mean the showers are available. Some truck stops have fewer showers and wait times for a shower can be ridiculous. So going to a petro or ta can be better than a small pilot for that.

The way you make.money is to learn to manage your clock to get more loads. I run reefer and am quite happy. I get paid detention if the customer takes more than two hours...and I sleep or watch movies. I use that as my break then roll out. If I want to take longer than a 10hour break it is never a big deal cause I trip plan to always be so early that I have time.

Love this job

I had heard that sometimes you do have to wait on a shower. I am fine with this. So it sounds like it really will come down to trip planning for how long I'll be driving day to day then. Generally, How is detention pay calculated?

As the title says, How much personal time do you have remaining before you absolutely have to get to sleep before the next 10 hour drive starts?

I already know that you typically will be driving 10 hours a day, But that leaves the question as to what that final 4 hours is used for. What am I missing in trucking that takes 4 hours every day not driving to complete? I don't even think these four hours are paid as I have always been told "You only make money when the wheels are turning. Stay away from Refers. (Too bad on that, I'm going to be working for Stevens Transport.). If this is the case, and I am breaking my back while not being paid, I think I'll probably stick with it long enough to get myself out of debt and then get out of it. I am the kinda person who is motivated by money.

For those who say eating, dropping the deuce, showering. I can do all of those things in 30 minutes if I had to do them right after the other. For those wondering, Yes, I can take a complete and thorough shower in 5 minutes. All my life, I have had around a 20-gallon water heater. You get 8 minutes of hot water tops. If you don't finish in that 8 minutes, You get the cold water.

Regarding Pre-Trip times? I was told if you spend more than 20 minutes doing it, Your dispatcher is going to be yelling at you through qualcomm.

Whats up guys! First off let me start by saying happy Easter! With that out of the way, I have been curious about the quality of premium wifi at the Pilot/Flying J truck stops. Before anyone asks, yes, I tried to do a search, everything I was getting information on is dated 2 years old or more!

So I am doubtful that these older posts mention much of Pilots new wifi. Allow me to post a few takes from the main website: "All Pilot Flying J locations broadcasting “Pilot Flying J Outdoor Enhanced WiFi” offer Premium WiFi service.

"We heard you. We fixed it. Try it today. At Pilot Flying J, we know how important it is to stay connected while you’re on the road. We spent millions of dollars and thousands of man hours overhauling our WiFi, and we would love for you to try it."

And...

“Enhanced Stores” have received a technology upgrade and Premium WiFI is available for purchase at these locations. Premium WiFi will provide the best experience when streaming, downloading, uploading and playing online games. “Legacy Stores” are stores in the network that are unable to receive the upgraded technology required for Premium WiFi service. FREE WiFi service is available at these locations. At these locations, you can send and receive email and conduct general web browsing."

With pilot posting about this new "Enhanced Wifi", can anyone tell me if its any good? Are these enhanced stores hard to find? Would anyone be willing to do a speedtest.net measurement on the wifi?

To anyone that helps me reach out and see an updated answer to this question, Thank you VERY much. For all others wondering why I don't use my verizon Hotspot? That hard throttles to 600 Kilobits/s after you use the 10 gigs. So that means its slightly better than dialup at that point. I'll be driving reefers, So thats for those 4+ hour wait times to get my truck unloaded. I need to use Truck Stop wifi as much as possible and save the hot spot for times when truck stop wifi is an impossibility.