Question:
I was pondering this today. What makes a truck driver. I'm 155lbs and 5'11" so im skinny but, I can lift easy 90 to 100 lbs. I pasted the DOT physical with ease. I see alot of truck drivers that must weigh 400lbs+ and can barely get through the cab door, LOL. Then I see guys like me driving truck. I see many many more fat guys on the road then ones like me that keep in shape.
So what makes a good truck driver, one that is basically the company beotch? Or one that performs the job professionally? What makes a good driver?
Hey, if life throws you a curve ball, try and take a swing at it. Who knows what might happen

Answer:
So what makes a good truck driver, one that is basically the company beotch? Or one that performs the job professionally? What makes a good driver?
i think that were far more tough,than the
average 9 to 5 worker
away from home,long hours,traffic,sleeping
anywhere anytime,
driving 3000 miles everyweek,when there
tired with a 30 miles commute
what makes a good driver,my trainer once
told me this...
"no matter the road conditions,no matter how
you feel,the one thing that makes a good driver,
is patience......
I've smoked d___ and chewed rope
Fought, f___, farted, shot the moon and drove big trucks
I've been to Janesville Maine, Blain, Spain and Spokane
Been around the world twice, seen three world fairs
Seen man shot into space and goats screwing in the market place
BUT I ain't never seen anything like the stuff that goes on around this
place ......
Answer:
Attitude first and foremost. You have to have the right temperment for the job. You have to be able to stand up for yourself when the time calls for it, but you also have to be able to shut up and let it roll off your back when called for too.
Professionalism. How you actually go about doing your job, represent yourself, your company, and the industry as a whole. This is about how you drive, how you look (as in do you wear clean clothes in decent shape, keep yourself clean), how you interact with the public, with the people in the truckstops and on the docks. This is doing your best to run every load in on time but not sacraficing safety to do it.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
I've met more million mile safe drivers that you just might think of as fat than I have the inshape thin drivers. As if weight actually makes some sort of difference.
"Caution: Door May Open"

Answer:
Fat's where it's at.
-the Fat One
Oink! Oink! Oink! Grunt! Grunt!
Answer:
After a month on the road with my husband going all over this great country side I would have to agree that attitude is what makes a good truck driver.
Not everyone can drive those big rigs (I know I wouldn't be able to), not everyone can move around a load if it is required of them, and not everyone has an attitude that will let them get by with day to day life. The ability to remember that when someone out there calls you a name on the CB that really gets to you is that it's only words and since they don't know you don't take it to heart. I was called a **tch because I told one driver that his life is what he makes of it. He doesn't know me and he wasn't happy with life. He didn't want someone talking to him that didn'y sympathize with him so he took his anger out on anyone that said something he didn't want to say. In my opinion does that make him a good driver? Not really.
------------------------------------------------------------ Success is 1% inspiration and 99% persperation.
Answer:
a good driver is more then a driver he or she is a baby sitter for the rest of the people on the road
YOU CAN SLEEP AFTER YOU DELIVER THE LOAD

Answer:
Rolaids, Doan's Pills, and Preparation H!
At least according to Dave Dudley.
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane.
Waylon Jennings

Answer:
Some of those drivers you call "fat" were once thin and in shape like you are now, but many years of sitting behind the wheel, eating truckstop food (which is not known to be the healthiest dining experience), and dealing with stress have taken their toll. So don't judge anybody by that. Size, age, and experience do not make a good driver. I would say attitude is especially important, patience, and the ability to take endless amounts of BS.
In order to last with a trucking company, you have to do what they tell you to do, as long as it is legal. Don't refuse loads, don't cop a bad attitude, don't abandon or damage equipment, and don't refuse to perform necessary functions of the job. You will see that the "hotheads" that constantly hop from one company to another wash out of the industry very quickly.
As a driver, your mind has to always be on safety. This is key. No matter how bad the other guy drives, no matter how mad your dispatcher just made you, no matter how bad the weather is, you handle that rig as safely as possible at all times. If you take your aggressions out on the road, remember you are operating 80,000 pounds that could cause serious death and damage. There are drivers sitting in jail right now because they lost their cool on the road.
And when you are on your own, you are driving YOUR truck, and that is YOUR responsibility. Don't let others talk you into taking chances that you feel uncomfortable with. This happens all the time. If you feel unsafe driving in a certain situation because of bad weather or because you're too tired, get off the road and park it. This is part of being a professional driver.

Answer:
Hey there cadillac jack I have to say that your post was great on this subject and I agree with 98% of it.
------------------------------------------------------------ Success is 1% inspiration and 99% persperation.
Answer:
Originally posted by cadillac jack:
Some of those drivers you call "fat" were once thin and in shape like you are now, but many years of sitting behind the wheel, eating truckstop food (which is not known to be the healthiest dining experience), and dealing with stress have taken their toll. So don't judge anybody by that. Size, age, and experience do not make a good driver. I would say attitude is especially important, patience, and the ability to take endless amounts of BS.
In order to last with a trucking company, you have to do what they tell you to do, as long as it is legal. Don't refuse loads, don't cop a bad attitude, don't abandon or damage equipment, and don't refuse to perform necessary functions of the job. You will see that the "hotheads" that constantly hop from one company to another wash out of the industry very quickly.
As a driver, your mind has to always be on safety. This is key. No matter how bad the other guy drives, no matter how mad your dispatcher just made you, no matter how bad the weather is, you handle that rig as safely as possible at all times. If you take your aggressions out on the road, remember you are operating 80,000 pounds that could cause serious death and damage. There are drivers sitting in jail right now because they lost their cool on the road.
And when you are on your own, you are driving YOUR truck, and that is YOUR responsibility. Don't let others talk you into taking chances that you feel uncomfortable with. This happens all the time. If you feel unsafe driving in a certain situation because of bad weather or because you're too tired, get off the road and park it. This is part of being a professional driver.
Understood, no offense to anyone with the "fat" comment. When I go through school, I will think about this alot, I think it'll help me to be a better driver than the next guy getting pizzed off at all the people driving cars and loosing their self control.
Hey, if life throws you a curve ball, try and take a swing at it. Who knows what might happen

Answer:
So when are you starting school dude?

Answer:
Knowledge, desire and self-control.
The driving part requires patience above all.
The first year I drove I ate a lot of soup and salad till my family told me I looked bad so I started eating better. 10 years and no weight gain till this last year and I started eating a lot of the steak deals and having ice cream and candy for tv snacks. I cut the tv snacks first. Hope that works because those Petro steak deals are GREAT!!! (now I go to regular steak houses and restaraunts too.) If people are addicted to food like I am to cigarattes I feel for them. I just said it took self control. Didn't say I had it.
OOIDA Memeber***Patience is the hardest thing to learn..

Answer:
Steak owns me

Answer:
Originally posted by Gear Jammer:
So when are you starting school dude?
Hopefully, sometime in September, If my credit holds up for the loan. Right now thats all I got going for me to get through school is credit. I'll be riding through school on the seat of my pants so, I plan to do good and put 110% in to it. And I don't want to try a carrier sponserd school because if, I don't like them I'm screwwed, I'd rather have options.
Hey, if life throws you a curve ball, try and take a swing at it. Who knows what might happen