Week 4 With Warner

So I have been training with Warner for 3 weeks no, I will say I enjoy the job and really enjoy driving trucks I have been strughling with one thing hours of service stuff. My trainer has talked about running almost 6 months with out doing a 34 hour reset. One is that acualy possable and two do you have to run like that to be a TRUCKER. I am trying to sort out how much down time should you take and dose it make you less of a driver if you do want to see a bit of down time. I do not wantnto burn out with in the first six months tryingnto be some super trucker thatIndo not need to be. I do want to be a good safe driver. So what is a farnsplit between the job and down time ?

Dominic, Congratulations! You are getting closer to being a solo driver, and I'll bet you're learning a ton of stuff about handling that rig. Driving a truck is a very cool way to make a living.

You raise some good questions. Here's the deal about HOS. Yes it is possible to run on and on without taking a 34 hour restart, as long as your hours are spread out over eight days you will always have hours coming back to you that you can drive on. When you are with a trainer he doesn't really want to take any down time unless he's going home, and there are some drivers who just don't hardly take home time, in fact some of them don't have a home or a family. I don't know about yours.

Your trainer wants to keep that truck moving because that way not only is he making more money, but you are getting some of the benefit also because hopefully you are learning something while moving the freight down the road.

Once you are a solo driver you will become the captain of the ship and you can manage your time just the way you want. Not everybody likes to take a little down time, some folks want to keep their truck moving every day. You'll develop your own style as you develop your skills. Sometimes we have crazy deadlines to meet and we have to really push to get it done on time. Other times we have plenty of time on a load so that we can take it easy and still get there ahead of time. Every new truck driver is a work in progress, and if you have a good dispatcher he/she will begin to understand how you like to run things.

Safety is always your top priority, but a lot of time these trainers are pushing you just so you'll understand the demands of the job. Hang in there, it sounds like you are doing just fine. It all changes once you get the keys to your own rig. But remember, a truck driver makes money by having his wheels rolling. Those guys sitting in the T.V. lounge at the truck stop for the weekend aren't getting the kind of checks that the guys who realized they could knock out another 1000 miles over the weekend are going to get.