Qualcomm And Critical Events

I ran out of hours (on my 14) just as I was trying to park at a truck stop.

Dave

Well i just had my first critical event... Was on an on ramp and some jack*** decides to roll past me on the inside. Truck has roll stability, and swerving to miss caused it to go off. Had to call claims department, then call saftey and explain what happened.. Just another item to tack on to the bad day I was having to begain with i guess. Havent heard anything from safety after I called them.

Dave, honestly, we all have those days...and for me, I think I get a run of them when I shouldn't be turning the key with anything that has wheels....Just work thru it...That little black cloud has GOT to run out of rain eventually...

Yeah, people are crazy!

I'll tell ya - I've never seen a study done on this, but I'd like to:

It's well known that a huge number of accidents happen because people are simply distracted. If they had been paying full attention and their mind was clear and relaxed, the accident would have been avoided. We're used to hearing about this with texting while driving.

But I think one big problem that people run into is "bad day syndrome" where one or two things don't go your way, you get frustrated, and it grows as the day goes on. Now as you're driving down the road you're thinking about that rude waitress at breakfast, the jerk at the docks that made you sit for three hours that morning, and the terrible traffic you had to sit through going past Chicago. You're annoyed, impatient, and distracted. And that's when it happens...you get involved in a wreck you should have easily avoided.

Truckers deal with more aggravating garbage during the course of a normal day than almost any profession I can imagine. But truckers also have about the smallest margin for error of any job I can imagine. You lose focus for a split second at any point throughout the day and bam - it's over.

So for all drivers out there, or soon-to-be drivers, make sure you do all you can to remain calm and relaxed no matter how your day is going. Try not to let things get to you. Now only will you enjoy your job and your life a whole lot more, but you'll have a much better chance of being safe out there and you'll save a lot of energy which will keep you awake and alert throughout those long days out there.

Practice being patient and tolerant. Seriously, it's a learned skill that anyone can improve upon over time and it might just be a skill that saves your life or the lives of others around you someday.

They always reveal studies about texting and driving, but I'd love to see them simply ask people after an accident:

1) Were you having a good day or a bad day before this happened? 2) What kind of mood were you in just before it happened?

I'll bet anything that a significant number of people would report being in the midst of a bad day and being in a bad mood at the time of the accident.

Yeah, people are crazy!

I'll tell ya - I've never seen a study done on this, but I'd like to:

It's well known that a huge number of accidents happen because people are simply distracted. If they had been paying full attention and their mind was clear and relaxed, the accident would have been avoided. We're used to hearing about this with texting while driving.

But I think one big problem that people run into is "bad day syndrome" where one or two things don't go your way, you get frustrated, and it grows as the day goes on. Now as you're driving down the road you're thinking about that rude waitress at breakfast, the jerk at the docks that made you sit for three hours that morning, and the terrible traffic you had to sit through going past Chicago. You're annoyed, impatient, and distracted. And that's when it happens...you get involved in a wreck you should have easily avoided.

Truckers deal with more aggravating garbage during the course of a normal day than almost any profession I can imagine. But truckers also have about the smallest margin for error of any job I can imagine. You lose focus for a split second at any point throughout the day and bam - it's over.

So for all drivers out there, or soon-to-be drivers, make sure you do all you can to remain calm and relaxed no matter how your day is going. Try not to let things get to you. Now only will you enjoy your job and your life a whole lot more, but you'll have a much better chance of being safe out there and you'll save a lot of energy which will keep you awake and alert throughout those long days out there.

Practice being patient and tolerant. Seriously, it's a learned skill that anyone can improve upon over time and it might just be a skill that saves your life or the lives of others around you someday.

They always reveal studies about texting and driving, but I'd love to see them simply ask people after an accident:

1) Were you having a good day or a bad day before this happened? 2) What kind of mood were you in just before it happened?

I'll bet anything that a significant number of people would report being in the midst of a bad day and being in a bad mood at the time of the accident.

Brett,

That is excellent advice. We can NOT let anything get to us. It causes us to lose focus, MISS an exit, a d then the day goes down hill from there.

Dave