Question:
What good does it do you to push it when you are tired? What benifit do you or will you obtain to force yourself to keep going when your mind and body are telling you to go to sleep?
The answer is nothing. You will gain nothing. All you will possibly accomplish is getting yourself or someone else killed, or earning a few fines, a black mark on your DAC and a tough time finding a new job when you drive off the road because you fell asleep.
Case in point: I do an overnight dedicated run. Home every day 9-11 hours after I leave the house. Most nights I can do my run standig on my head. Last night I had to stop 90 minutes from the house and take a nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open. An hour later I was good to go and went on home.
On the last leg of the trip I come up on a truck sitting in the median. From what I could see it looks like the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and simply drove off the road. There were no skid marks anywhere, no idication that he had a truck related problem such as a blown tire, the night/morning was clear, dry, no fog, and the road was straight for the 10 miles before and 5 miles after he went into the ditch.
Drivers, learn and respect your limits. Listen to what your body is telling you. If it is saying you need to go to bed then go to bed. Your only priority is to make it home safe and to live to see another day. Everything else is secondary.
I will always be a mutter trucker at heart.
Answer:
Drivers, learn and respect your limits. Listen to what your body is telling you. If it is saying you need to go to bed then go to bed. Your only priority is to make it home safe and to live to see another day. Everything else is secondary.
on 70 going east the guy's are pushing it,
to pass indianapolis.indiana,and they dont make it,better to be late than in the median
are you not entertained
the count of monte cristo
jim caviezel=ive counted every block in my cell,many time's
richard harris=yes but have you named them yet
Answer:
Sometimes a 10-15 minute nap is all I need to "kick me straight" and be on the road again. Other times, I gotta put in a good 60 minutes or so.

Answer:
Last week in Lincoln, Ne. a trucker fell asleep at the wheel around 2:00A and drove into Oak Creek off I-80, just west of the airport. He went into the median and drove off the bank between 2 bridges. There were not too many big pieces of the truck (or driver) left.
Take a nap when ya gotta!
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane.
Waylon Jennings

Answer:
uturn2001 asked
"What benifit do you or will you obtain to force yourself to keep going when your mind and body are telling you to go to sleep?"
Only one answer to your question, Old before your time, crippled or Dead
God I love this post . . . tell me more.
uturn2001, thanks, RJ at Ol' Blue, USA®
Answer:
....about not driving when you're too tired.
The other thing - equally important in the end -- is taking naps and getting as much sleep as possible when you can. New research confirms that even short naps can significently improve alertness later into the work day.
So maybe it's a two-parter:
!. Banking sleep when you can.
2. Knowing when you've spent it all.
The first reduces needing to deal with the second.

Answer:
even if you think you've gotten enough rest...
Except for all you "SuperTruckers", who can drive for ten hours, find an immediate place to park, get in the bunk, fall asleep immediately, stay asleep for eight full hours, and get up and do it all over again? I can't. This is aside from the incidentals, you know, like eating, showering (of course, that last one doesn't seem to be a big priority for a lot of drivers, smell 'ya at the "J"...) laundry, etc.
Unfortunately, if YOU decide when you're tired, burned out and have had enough, and do it once too many times, the powers that be at your company will start thinking 'bout replacing your warm bod with another fresh one...
Hey, companies with a 130 per-cent turn over rate, could care less.
One Word: LIABILITY

Answer:
Liability is right!
If you get tired, find a spot and park it! Crawl in the bunk!
It's so much easier to deliver a late load than it is to deliver the one that YOU scatter all over the highway!
Think about it!
*******************************
"Got the bird dog on...
Dodgin' the scales...
80 miles an hour and a step outta jail..." From "Rollin' Home, Pirates of the Mississippi)
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"I've always been different with one foot over the line.
Winding up somewhere, one step ahead or behind.
It ain't been so easy, but I guess I shouldn't complain.
I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane." (from Waylon Jennings)
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Member: Happy Dweller Society
Owner Operator Division


Answer:
sometimes you think you're more tired than you are when you're posting. should have pulled it over last hour...
[This message was edited by Triscuitt on October 24, 2003 at 23:30.]

Answer:
A trip to Starbucks always does it for me!

Answer:
Oh yes, and just try to remember that when you're tired. Tired makes you STUPID and it's easy to talk yourself into pushing on. It's a catch-22. You gotta WORK at getting in tune with how far you can push-off sleep, then make a possible life-saving decision as you start to get tired and stupid. Slap yourself and wake-up long enough to think about what you're doing.
One thing's for sure-- there are no known truckers who rolled over, lived to tell the tale and said, "well THAT was worth it". And don't forget some of them go to jail.
Pull it over no matter what they say, Don't mess with this thing because eventually you WILL f***up big time. Even if you survive, you might wish you hadn't.
[This message was edited by Shuffler on October 24, 2003 at 23:05.]

Answer:
Uturn, you have done it again. You sure make good posts.
Listen up newbies, this guy knows what he is talking about.
Daytripper
Sometimes you have to dig through a lot horsesh#t to find the pony.

Answer:
That's my comment!
However all sleepyheads out there should consider the benefits and difference between a nap and sleep. A NAP is a brief enough period of time that it doesn't interfer with the time you schedule later for sleep, but is long enough to reduce the stress level brought on by fatigue, and increase alertness, and is usually shorter than 2 hours...
Sleep, on the other hand, should be long enough for REM (and dreaming) to occur, and to waken more naturally than w/ an alarm clock (but how many of us can risk that --the sans alarm clock I mean)....
How do you know if you dream? Usually by waking prematurely from sleep.
I plan where I'm going
'Cause I know where I've been.

Answer:
How do you know if you dream?
It's the ONLY time Meg Ryan says she wants me!
I try to always NOT set an alarm, even in naps. When enough rest has been had, you'll wake up.
The BEST of us discuss issues.
MOST of us discuss things.
The WORST of us discuss other people.
TruckNet's On line Job Applications.

Answer:
It's the ONLY time Meg Ryan says she wants me
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Dream on!
Just a grouchy old man.
"The average dog is a nicer person than the average person"-Andy Rooney