Fears On The Road

Interesting no one said loosing focus, being distracted or falling asleep. Am I missing something or just showing my rookie stripes?

I know what you mean buddy. Some of these long hauls on boring interstates can definitely be mentally draining. This is about the 10th time or so in 2 weeks I've been running on I-70 through Kansas and Colorado. They don't call it the Great American Desert for nothing.

I deathly afraid of the panic stop in front of me by a 4 wheeler. Double that if I'm rolling heavy with a Costco load.

I try leaving enough space, but people do stupid stuff.

Less worried about animals. They lose, I'm just going to do my best to hold on to the truck. (So far only one bird strike)

I have an auto as well and wheever i have done and downgrades i have just put it in manual mode either 8th, 9th or 10th depending on the downgrade and just switch between the 3 engine brakes to control my speed. Downgrades were very intimidating to me especially in an auto at first, but i went through some in West Verginia on Easter and they helped me relax a bit once i found something that works for me. And you knkw Schneiders policy, if you need chains or anything on you drives, pull over and park, lol.

Mountain and steep hill driving. Hitting something while backing (yes even after I GOAL) Rollover and losing control in windy conditions

Are you talking about mountains in general or during adverse conditions? For the past 2 weeks I've been running Home Depot dedicated out of Topeka and I'm consistently taking runs out to Colorado. Every time I see the snow covered Rockies in the distance, 2 things are crossing my mind; "OMG!! THAT'S SO PRETTY!" (in a very girly voice), and "I really hope I don't have to go through that one of these days..." (I have cables (rusty as hell), but I don't know how to use them)

Mountains in normal conditions can be intimidating at first. Since I drive an automatic, it's extremely easy for me to descend even with a heavy load, just set cruise to 5-10mph below the speed limit and pump the Jakes.

"And you knkw Schneiders policy, if you need chains or anything on you drives, pull over and park, lol."

Ha, very good..That may be Schneiders way of communicating: "The most dangerous thing you'll encounter on a daily basis is between your ears"...I'm a believer!

And you knkw Schneiders policy, if you need chains or anything on you drives, pull over and park, lol.

Mountain and steep hill driving. Hitting something while backing (yes even after I GOAL) Rollover and losing control in windy conditions

Are you talking about mountains in general or during adverse conditions? For the past 2 weeks I've been running Home Depot dedicated out of Topeka and I'm consistently taking runs out to Colorado. Every time I see the snow covered Rockies in the distance, 2 things are crossing my mind; "OMG!! THAT'S SO PRETTY!" (in a very girly voice), and "I really hope I don't have to go through that one of these days..." (I have cables (rusty as hell), but I don't know how to use them)

Mountains in normal conditions can be intimidating at first. Since I drive an automatic, it's extremely easy for me to descend even with a heavy load, just set cruise to 5-10mph below the speed limit and pump the Jakes.

Im just fine with that policy. I may have chains in my truck from the last driver, but I have no clue how to use them. I went through the snow/ice storm around Indy last winter just fine. 35mph or less with 4ways on the entire time. Took me 5.5h to go 180 or so miles, then I called it a day literally; parked my bobtail at the truck stop across the street from the walmart DC and said "**** this, I ain't moving another inch!" Sat there for a good 27h.

Here's a new one for you: Getting your load stolen while you sleep at the receiver, waiting for them to open up in the morning. At least it was just a burglary and not a robbery:

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police are investigating the theft of a large number of guns being delivered to a sporting goods store in Olive Branch. A combined 61 handguns and six long guns were being delivered to Academy Sports on Goodman Road, according to Olive Branch Police Chief Don Gammage. He said the truck driver had fallen asleep behind the store on Sunday night, awaiting an early morning delivery Monday. When he woke up, he and Academy Sports employees found that the seals and locks had been cut off the truck, and the guns and a small amount of ammunition were gone. http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/05/08/mississippi-guns-stolen/101428540/

Here's a new one for you: Getting your load stolen while you sleep at the receiver,

Taxman, here's a tip that most experienced drivers understand when pulling a load that may be tempting to thieves. Often times with a high value load we will park the truck in a fashion that eliminates access to the trailer doors. In a truck stop we will back the truck up so that we just kiss the rubber dock stops of the truck behind us, or if we are sleeping at the receiver we will back it up to a wall of the building.

This situation could have been avoided easily had the driver used his wits. This is the kind of stuff we're referring to when we refer to this career being competitive in nature. This driver may be overlooked now by his dispatcher on loads to this customer, and/or possibly other good loads just because of their high value nature. The top tier guys are on their A game all the time. This poor driver dropped the ball, and unfortunately our dispatchers memories usually default to our last mistake.

Here's a new one for you: Getting your load stolen while you sleep at the receiver, waiting for them to open up in the morning. At least it was just a burglary and not a robbery:

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and local police are investigating the theft of a large number of guns being delivered to a sporting goods store in Olive Branch. A combined 61 handguns and six long guns were being delivered to Academy Sports on Goodman Road, according to Olive Branch Police Chief Don Gammage. He said the truck driver had fallen asleep behind the store on Sunday night, awaiting an early morning delivery Monday. When he woke up, he and Academy Sports employees found that the seals and locks had been cut off the truck, and the guns and a small amount of ammunition were gone. http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2017/05/08/mississippi-guns-stolen/101428540/

I can almost guarantee that if you're in Memphis in the wee hours of the morning, you're not going to "fall asleep" with guns on your truck. This is pretty fishy, so many preventable things went wrong in order for this to happened.

The #2 is something I see a lot of in my line of business. But one fool tried it on the Pennsylvania turnpike and he is now with his heavenly father. How in the world to you try to cut in front of a big rig and suddenly slow down, if a big rig takes a minute to get up to speed that means it takes a minute to stop also. but its unfortunate to see all the fake claims people try to pull

Im just a rookie but i fear three things.

1) rollover from sudden gusts of wind

2) someone tries insurance fraud accident

3) mountain driving and suddenly snow and ice and i cant shutdown.

We insure a lot of school buses and trust me I cant even start telling you about school buses claims it will scare the living hell out of every parents on this forum

Any bad situation where a school bus is involved.