Tips For Truckers - The Best Hours For Trucking

Best Hours For Trucking

Anytime a new driver ask experienced drivers about the best time to drive, they get the same response: "Drive when you have to, sleep when you can." The road and customers can wreck havoc on your nerves, making restful sleep difficult and sporadic. Even when you do get seven or so hours of sleep, you can still spend your waking hours feeling run down and fatigued if you are on an inconsistent schedule.

Plan ahead

You can be sure that it is not going to play out the way you hoped, but government regulations on driving time combined with varied loading and unloading times for customers make it imperative that you plan your driving days in advance. You have to make sure you have enough available hours to legally make all needed deliveries in a particular day. It takes a lot of experience and the ability to calm your mind and sleep at times your body doesn't feel like sleeping.

10 hour breaks

That looks like plenty of time on paper. When you are making your schedule, keep in mind that your break from driving will also be used waiting for your trailer to be loaded or unloaded, finding a parking place for your truck, taking a shower, grabbing a decent meal, and, oh yeah, getting a few hours of sleep before you begin driving again.

Morning hours are valuable

You do not want to run out of legal driving hours at the time most shipments urgently need to go out. With the vast majority of loads going out in the morning, if you miss getting a load then, you could be without one until the next day. It is best to arrange you driving and sleep in such a way that you are both physically and legally ready for shipments at the busiest time of the day.

For other helpful tips and information make sure to visit the Trucker to Trucker blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There you'll find a community of professional truckers willing to share their comments and insight with you to help you be profitable and happy on the road.