I love to drive, advice would be appreciated.

[JLKKLJ777]

I think it is wonderful that you are considering a career in truck driving! This industry does in fact need MORE women drivers in the drivers seat of big trucks. I say this based on my observations of the past 16+ years; Women have a tendency to be more receptive to training, more careful in general, and less aggressive over all.

The fact that you love to travel is a definite plus in your favor. Your lack of actual experience in a large vehicle is common and easily taken care of. By all means take a course. Based on your comment about the money you may want to consider one of the larger training companies. They will put you through their school and send you out with a trainer for several weeks to make sure you are ready to fly solo.

Based on the fact you have good map reading skills you will actually be ahead of the game in many respects. You would be surprised just how many people have no idea how to read a map or navigate around a city.

You will learn situational awareness as you go. You will begin to notice more and more as time goes by. I am referring to signage specifically directed at commercial vehicles. Again many motorists are oblivious to these signs and simply over look them, many never even register seeing them at all.

As far as maneuvering a big truck, this will come with time, patience, and practice. NO-ONE was born with a steering wheel in their hand or blessed with the ability to drive a truck without some kind of training.

You stated you have no ties, no partner, no family. This is another plus for you. The hardest part of this job is adapting to the long hours of solitude and loneliness. Lots of newbies get "homesick" and miss their friends, families, pets, etc.

I would encourage you to enter this industry asap. There will always be room for new drivers especially in the otr sector.

[IRISHGYPSY]

Originally Posted by JLKKLJ777

I think it is wonderful that you are considering a career in truck driving! This industry does in fact need MORE women drivers in the drivers seat of big trucks. I say this based on my observations of the past 16+ years; Women have a tendency to be more receptive to training, more careful in general, and less aggressive over all.

The fact that you love to travel is a definite plus in your favor. Your lack of actual experience in a large vehicle is common and easily taken care of. By all means take a course. Based on your comment about the money you may want to consider one of the larger training companies. They will put you through their school and send you out with a trainer for several weeks to make sure you are ready to fly solo.

Based on the fact you have good map reading skills you will actually be ahead of the game in many respects. You would be surprised just how many people have no idea how to read a map or navigate around a city.

You will learn situational awareness as you go. You will begin to notice more and more as time goes by. I am referring to signage specifically directed at commercial vehicles. Again many motorists are oblivious to these signs and simply over look them, many never even register seeing them at all.

As far as maneuvering a big truck, this will come with time, patience, and practice. NO-ONE was born with a steering wheel in their hand or blessed with the ability to drive a truck without some kind of training.

You stated you have no ties, no partner, no family. This is another plus for you. The hardest part of this job is adapting to the long hours of solitude and loneliness. Lots of newbies get "homesick" and miss their friends, families, pets, etc.

I would encourage you to enter this industry asap. There will always be room for new drivers especially in the otr sector.

Thank you very much for the encouragement, advice, and for making the effort to read and think about my post. You seem to be the only one who read it who understood what I was trying to say.

[IRISHGYPSY]

Originally Posted by pro1driver

your post was quite long, and as a result, i started falling asleep reading it...

I'm sorry for putting you to sleep. Thank you very much for persisting and for deeming it worth the effort to reply.

but from what i was to ascertain, you like driving, SMALLER vehicles...

In spite of [or because of?] the length of my post I do not seem to have made myself understood. I like driving anything. The majority of my experience has been limited to smaller vehicles.

driving a big rig through many of those cities/towns you once did with your car or mini van or SMALL
You have no idea how small.
delivery vehicle, IS NOT THE SAME as driving an 18 wheeler......

Even before I learned to drive a truck, and got my CDL, I was never silly enough to think that one would handle at all like my '91 GEO METRO [which I bought gently used in '93 and drove for nearly 14 years, and still miss]. I do think that safely driving in a variety of urban and rural areas, navigating, meeting delivery deadlines, and combining loads with a variety of deadlines and destinations might be relevant. As might sitting for hours in the vehicle [parked under a tree or in the alley on the shady side of a tall building in the Loop because my air conditioning was broken that summer - didn't mind it in winter so much as the heat worked] waiting to be assigned anything AT ALL to do, when business was slow.

you cannot easily back them up or turn them around. you have "height issues" and "length issues" with big rigs.

I do recall backing, turning, height and length being addressed in my CDL school.

its a whole new ball game with an 18 wheeler. i strongly suggest that you go for a refresher course. IN FACT no company will hire you since you have ZERO experience since you originally got your license.

I agree, for any company to simply turn me loose in a class A vehicle without some kind of refresher course, with this little experience, so long ago, would be scary, stupid, and probably not be stood for by their insurance company and company lawyers.

as for being on the road, you will get worn out real fast. you WILL NOT be stopping at hotels/motels for your sleep/rest. you WILL BE living in that truck...

That was what I understood.

sorry to hear that some people close to you have since died....but i hardly find that reason enough to want to be a truck driver. its either something you want to do because you want to, or its something you DO NOT want to do...life/death situations are not any reason to get into trucking, you would be sorely mistaken.

I didn't get my CDL in '96 BECAUSE I anticipated nearly everyone I cared about leaving my life in '00-'01. I got it because I've wanted to drive for a very long time. Then I unexpectedly had to stay close to home to care for family members. NOW I find that the things which kept me off the road THEN have disappeared, some of them dead.

i would rather personally recommend that you stick with class B driving jobs since you stated that you

So since my past experience is in smaller vehicles I should stick to them. If people only ever did things they had done before where would we all be? in caves?

this way, you'll not get discouraged with driving an 18 wheeler, simply because you "love to drive".......because its a JOB with more responsibility than you could ever imagine........

What makes you think I'm afraid of responsibility? or easily discouraged? or that getting discouraged at times is something to be avoided, rather than an inevitable part of life to be faced and overcome?

If it was too much unadulterated fun, they wouldn't pay us to do it, they would charge us for the privilege. All jobs [and people and situations] have both pluses and minuses.

[IRISHGYPSY]

Originally Posted by Piasared

well first off there is no shortage of drivers. there are alot. only shortage that exist is Smart drivers and Professionals.

If you decide to get into it you will want the haz-mat license. its a must have l

i started driving OTR in 1990 and haven't ever stopped. I've worked for
Monfort Trucking 1990 -1991
Southwest Motor freight 1991-1996
Harold Ives TRucking : 3 months in 1996 .23 cents per mile.. wtf was i thinking
US Xpress :1996 - 1998
Roadway Express 1999 - whenever i retire... hopefully

OTR driving is alot of fun if you keep a good outlook, alot of drivers have negative attitudes and are generally just whiny and mouthy little twerps

just remember to always to be safe and pay attention to what you are doing.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply and the women truckers website links [which I'm not being allowed to quote]. They look interesting

[pro1driver]

"My favorite job EVER was as a courier for Larson Express, of Chicago [small package pickup and delivery, in my own car], which I loved. I got to drive a lot, worked independently, usually didn’t know where I would be going next, and got to think on my feet all the time."

yes, i know truck driving school "adressed the issue of height, size, lenght", etc,etc.....

BUT because you were "happiest" at driving smaller vehicles, why go large car....???

you claimed that your past experience was driving smaller vehicles, which "you loved".....why leave something you "love" for something that isn't much of a "love affair" in of itself...????

you could "probably" become an owner-operator of a small delivery van, and end up making MORE money that a tractor-trailer driver. you'd have a regular route, regular schedule, lower fuel costs, etc, etc....

hey, do as you wish...you wanted opinions, advice, and many of us gave them to you.....and i'm NOT the only one here advising you to stay Class B driving, just because you "always wanted" to drive or you "love to drive" family, friends or whatever, doesn't make you in particular a good canadate for driving big rigs....

then i see near the bottom of your post you got a ticket for blowing through a stop sign........this "may" hinder you from getting a driving job until your driving record clears, if it hasn't already.......refresher course or not...............


then this from you; "My mistakes were; driving without breakfast after being up all night, not checking the belt better before leaving the driveway [it had done that before], and then not pulling over and stopping first when I found out it was loose."

you actually think you're gonna eat right, sleep right, once you get a big rig job....???? and by the way, forget to buckle your seatbelt driving a big rig IS A FINE......(as it us driving your 4 wheeler).

those DOT cops are on top of overpasses checking thses things from time to time..........

but, good luck to you..........

[Mr. Down]

I am a former driver trainer for CRST, and have 9 years of OTR experience with various companies. My best advice to you is to fill out applications and do not lie on them and see what companies contact you back. Good Luck.