The capacity to assess information and make wise judgments is one of the most important abilities a truck driver must possess. Certain choices will have a significant impact on your career, while others will have an impact on your company’s capacity to retain clients and generate revenue. Of course, everyone is aware that daily choices involving life and death are made behind the wheel by truck drivers. One important characteristic that sets the greatest drivers apart from the others is the ability to concentrate on the information that counts and make the appropriate judgments.
First Selecting a Trucking Company
Over the years, several prospective drivers have visited the site often to do exhaustive research on trucking businesses. They create graphs and spreadsheets for the following data: driver pay, home time, detention pay, layover pay, tax benefits, 401(k) information, rider policies, pet policies, and much more.
After bouncing about between a few firms for a month, that individual will suddenly realize why one is superior to the others. A common justification is that “the terminal is near my house” or “my brother’s friend’s cousin’s nephew worked there when he was younger and enjoyed it.” This individual removed several excellent firms from his list without good reason since the terminal location has no bearing on OTR. And how has that business evolved in the twenty years since your trustworthy witness—whom you almost certainly have never met—worked there?
Are there solid justifications for choosing a firm, given the information? A few months later, we will see an update noting that they left that firm for XYZ reasons, which generally turns out to be something that would have been noted on that “helpful” spreadsheet, such as not having enough home time, not having rider insurance for the wife he intended to bring with him or poor salary. Then, it would be too late for us to assist.
Excellent Decision-Making and Good Judgment are essential in trucking.
We recently had a member who lied about failing a drug test, was found out through a background check, and was expelled from orientation. After failing a drug test 18 months earlier and completing a “return to duty” substance abuse professional examination, another member is looking for a firm to accept him. A third participant with a 20 mph speeding violation on his record is having trouble getting employment. They all asked us whether it would help if they spent thousands of dollars on nearby CDL schools, even though none could locate an employer ready to hire them.
Few companies will employ them to drive if paid CDL training organizations would not recruit and teach them. Your history cannot be magically erased with that CDL. The 160-hour credential would only lose value over the months it would take to locate employment. The firm would probably need full retraining by then, so the time and money invested would have been squandered. Why then bother?
The Safety of Trucking Companies
All of these individuals lack good judgment and decision-making skills. The purpose of the trucking companies’ extensive background checks and inquiries into your past is not to learn how awesome of a person you are or how much money you have donated to charity but rather to determine how and whether you will choose to protect the general public as well as the company’s assets and cargo. I am done now.
You will not be employed anyplace if you choose to attend a CDL orientation, knowing you would have to take a drug test and then follow the failed test with an “Oh well, I tried” attitude. Also, for what they stand for rather than simply the substances themselves.
What if you press the gas pedal to beat a red light while driving in a busy area? CRASH! In a Toyota, you just slaughtered a family. Well, I tried, I guess.
What if you underestimate the space required to turn in a truck stop parking lot and pull off a fender? Well, I tried, I guess.
Because you misused the mirrors, you ran over a driver strolling behind you as you pulled up onto a dock. Well, I tried, I guess.
Get the point?
Additionally, remember that all drivers listed before used drugs or drove too fast when committing crimes. They are technically criminals, albeit not crimes, and at least one lied about it. Does a trucking business want to trust a liar with its $250,000 in equipment and possibly million-dollar cargo?
Drivers Publicly Represent the Company
Several new drivers have shared their experiences on Facebook or YouTube in the last two weeks. All of them claimed their genuine names and employers, and one boasted from the top bunk that she was breaking a corporate safety rule by being up there while the truck was moving. I will not drive while I sleep on the bottom bunk.
A “violated business policy” on your DAC might significantly harm your prospects of finding work in the future. How do these folks feel? Unexpected news: Besides background checks, businesses often trawl trucking forums and organizations for information. You should anticipate a call to the office and a more thorough background check if a student posts a comment like, “I am amazed I passed my drug test yesterday!” or “that lawyer did a terrific job of erasing my DUI.”
The employer would probably not want your social media profiles to represent them if you have images of yourself online taken when you are intoxicated or high. They excel at preserving their company, which is all that matters. It will not matter what you believe you have kept secret in the past; it will come out, so be forthright and take ownership of your errors.
Being dismissive and saying, “That was only cannabis,” will get you kicked out.
Decisions and Judgment Go Above Your Conduct
We make significant daily choices while driving, some of which may be fatal. The driver must know what to do in an emergency as they are in charge of the truck and its contents.
For example, I once had a trainee who turned wrong and ended up in a big distribution center’s parking lot. The trainee woke me up and asked me what to do rather than using Google Earth, phoning the client, or simply moving to the nearby security gate.
I have no trouble answering inquiries or imparting knowledge, but there comes a time when you have to consider what you would do in the absence of your teacher. The reply I received was more of a question: “Message dispatch and let them know I will not be there?”
We had to locate the entrance even though we were on the incorrect side of the factory!
It was more of a scenario requiring common sense, although experience allows for some driving judgment. It takes practice to figure out how much swing room you need to turn or how far you need to back out of space before turning the wheel. It might take practice to choose the ideal parking spot and the ideal parking space there.
For example, I often park to pull directly out into an aisle without anybody blocking me. Often, motorists block in those who are perpendicular by parking along fences and curbs. If there are 300 parking places at a truck stop and only one is available, it will likely open for a purpose. Perhaps because it is a very tight space that nobody else could enter, spend some time observing to see if there are any obstructions or if the area is narrower than others. Take time to make sense of things; this is not a race.
Every Driver Will Experience Difficult Conditions
All drivers, but notably new drivers, go across dangerous circumstances. I had taken mistaken turns before and had to go back the same way a mile down the road after coming up against the “5 Ton Weight Limit Bridge” signage. In search of a location to turn around and expecting to see a store or a customer, I have driven aimlessly along dark roads. In North Carolina, I was in front of a ferry, but fortunately, I could see a marina nearby that provided space for boat trailers to swing around. A truck road I once took through Elizabeth, New Jersey, unexpectedly came to a stop with the words “End Truck Route.” Well, it was wonderful. No parking lots were big enough for me to turn as it ended. I soon had to do a U-turn due to an 11-foot clearance bridge. Therefore I had to contact the police to block the road.
Without the assistance of the police, someone with bad judgment may have attempted to turn and injure himself or someone else. I made a nighttime turn into a residential area to make a straight line return across a two-lane road for a U-turn. I changed my mind and made a U-turn in a cul-de-sac when the terrible sensation in my stomach told me someone might fly around a corner and broadside me. Not the best course of action, but preferable to having my trailer chopped in two or mowing down a passing motorist with the side of my trailer.
Every Decision Matters
Think carefully about how your choices will impact your life and potential employers. If you want to succeed when driving, live by the adage, “If I do not believe I can make it, I will not attempt.”