Unwritten Trucker Pro-Tips (Feat. Kearsey)

Mile marker numbers always run from low to high going west to east and south to north.

Not on the NYS Thruway

Get a spare door key made and wire it under the hood somewhere out of the way of the wiring harness.

Errol, check left mirror for 25 year old Pete first....if you can see one in the distance, turn off your CB before changing lanes at Swift speed way before the on ramp

Watch upcoming onramps - even on the overpass road for turning trucks. If you see a truck on the ramp, go ahead and move left to make room.

Newer drivers: when approaching intersections controlled by lights, practice deciding each time the spot at which you'd brake or go. It will take a lot of stress off making that decision if/when the light changes - that's not a good time to start figuring it out. Eventually, you'll do this automatically without having to think about it. You'll never blow a red, slow down unnecessarily, or get an unwarranted hard brake critical event due to a red light).

If you a) get an unusually heavy load, or b) your load is heavy put the road is slick/ icy/ snowy, do this:

When you have this chance on a local non-interstate street with no traffic behind you, slow down to about 20 mph and hit the brakes hard. Now you'll know what will happen when you need really do need to do a hard stop.

Whenever you get a dispatch, make sure the address is completely correct!

It may show “street”, when it is BLVD, or ROAD, or PARKWAY, etc.

Make sure the spelling is correct. There could be more than one address that has similar spelling:

12345 Smith Street and 12345 Smiths Street appear nearly identical, yet these are not.

12345 Blackburn Road and 12345 Black Burn Road is another example.

The dispatch may be typed wrong, or it could be in another city, on the border of a major city. I have seen many runs around the greater Atlanta area that are in fact NOT Atlanta, but another name for the city. Chicago and Los Angeles are two other major cities that come to mind.

I made a delivery somewhere around Dallas earlier this year, and went to the dispatched address as shown on the load info. Arrived at the “delivery location” which was leading into a subdivision. Hmmm.....don’t think this is quite right. Got on the phone and double checked it (after the fact). The correct address was 15 miles away, in an area I’d driven through earlier. One word had a different spelling: “Smithtown” as opposed to “Smith Town”.

Perform diligent research before you start your trip for that day concerning where you want to end. Sometimes you can end up with an unwelcomed surprise.