Truck drivers are at an increased risk of being involved in a crash. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), truck drivers are involved in about 1 in every 8 fatal crashes in the United States.
In this blog post, we will discuss 5 tips that truck drivers can follow to stay safe on the road.
Truck Drivers Pay Attention!
There are many factors that contribute to truck accidents, including driver fatigue, distracted driving, and poor weather conditions. However, there are also a number of things that truck drivers can do to reduce their risk of being involved in a crash.
Here are 5 tips for truck drivers to stay safe on the road:
- Get enough sleep: Truck drivers need to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night. This will help them to stay alert and to make better decisions while driving.
- Avoid distractions: Distractions such as cell phones, eating, and talking to passengers can all lead to accidents. Truck drivers should avoid distractions while driving.
- Be aware of your surroundings: Truck drivers need to be aware of their surroundings at all times. This includes paying attention to other drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.
- Drive defensively: Truck drivers should always drive defensively. This means being prepared for the unexpected and taking steps to avoid accidents.
- Take breaks: Truck drivers should take breaks every 2-3 hours. This will help them to stay alert and to avoid fatigue.
Conclusion
By following these tips, truck drivers can help to stay safe on the road. If you are a truck driver, be sure to follow these tips to stay safe on the road. You can also find more information on how to stay safe as a truck driver by visiting our blog page.
You are on the road feeling a bit sleepy and you want to stay awake while driving, we provided you in this article some useful tips how you can beat your sleepiness.
20 min of sleep can save your life
In order for you to feel more rested and alert, a quick power nap can be very important. Just a nap of 20 minutes can save your life. By taking a nap you will rest your brain and the nervous system will strengthen and will make your brain work faster.
90 decibels can keep you awake
Likewise, 90 decibels can help you if you feel drowsy. It is known that over 55 decibels are increasing the sleep disturbances and annoyance levels, so 90 decibels will definitely wake you up. Be aware that although listening to loud music can help you stay awake during driving, but also listening to too loud music can damage your hearing. The intensity of 90 decibels impacts the sleep in a great way. Music turned on 90 decibels is the same as a train whistle at 50 feet away.
Eat healthy meal after your pre-route nap
Truck drivers should consume healthy meals in order to stay healthy and awake. Whole grains, lean meats, low-fat dairy products, fruits, and vegetables can boost your metabolism. By consuming healthy meals you will boost your metabolism and reduce the risk of certain diseases. Healthy food allows the blood to run smoothly.
Drive at times when you are normally awake
Drowsy driving is related to more than 70% of truck accidents. Driving at times when you are normally awake will contribute to your safety. That is so because your body is used to function that way. The most dangerous hours to drive are from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. If you are driving during the hours when you normally sleep might cause lowered simulation.
Drink some coffee
For sure coffee is no replacement for a good sleep, but it can wake you up. Small amounts of coffee like one cup of coffee can help you stay awake while driving around five hours. It is the best pick-me-up drink. But if you are a coffee lover, pay attention not to drink more than four cups a day. Truck drivers should avoid large doses of caffeine because it can harm them. If you are not a coffee lover than in that case you can substitute it with a large cup of green tea or energy drink.
Keep yourself hydrated
Hydration is everything. If not hydrated the body sends us signals of tiredness and sleepiness. The cells, tissues, and organs in our body need water to work normally. There are many foods that you can consume in order to be hydrated, but water is the best option to stay hydrated. When on long trips keep a bottle of water by your side.
Keep Your Muscles Moving
In order not to fall asleep while driving, try to keep your muscles active. If you are driving on a long straight road and there isn’t a lot of traffic try to move a little bit your arms one by one, in order to improve the blood circulation in your body. In case if you cannot move your muscles make a short break, and stretch your body, that will help you to stay awake while driving.
Set the truck temperature lower
By setting the truck temperature lower you will feel cozier. The temperature in the cabin plays a big role when it comes to sleepiness and drowsiness. Turn the AC for few minutes, just to decrease the temperature in the cabin- that will help the brain function because when it’s a bit hotter or too cold in the cabin the brain ceases to function properly.
Keep Track Of How Long You’ve Been Driving
Before getting in the truck cabin and heading to your destination it is good for you to make a plan for your trip. In that plan, you should include the precise number of driving hours and breaks. That will help you keep track of how long you’ve been driving. By keeping that track and at the same time knowing how your body works, you will prevent yourself from falling asleep.
Dedicated Truck service is when a truck and a driver is assigned to your company. This service is tailored to meet our client’s specific needs. The benefits of this service are that no other freight will be loaded on the truck and no pickups or deliveries can conflict with your defined schedule for pickup and delivery. This service is good because you have feeling like you own a truck and don’t have late deliveries, an expense of maintenance and complex logistics problems.
For example, maybe a customer only accepts deliveries and pickups on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. With dedicated shipping, a truck will be available at that time, ready to accept or unload shipments. When using a dedicated fleet, no other freight is loaded on the truck which means the driver won’t have to drop off other shipments on their way to the destination. You have control of the fleet, which leads to better shipment planning, timely pickups, and consistent on-time deliveries. Whether moving freight on local, regional or long-haul routes, when using dedicated trucking, shippers can stage loads to customers or to other locations, which frees up warehouse space, making for a more effective supply chain.
Some of the benefits dedicated equipment trucking service:
- You have a truck and a driver dedicated just for your shipping needs
- No more late deliveries: Reliable on-time service
- Tracking and communication
- No other freight is on the truck at any time
- You schedule your exact pickup and delivery time, with no distractions
- Effective transportation solutions to solve specific needs
- Safety & regulatory compliance
- Reliable equipment
Trucking business is one of the most growing private sectors of U.S. economy. Estimated employment in this sector is around 9 million employees. Nearly half of this number are truck drivers. Also, nearly 70% transporting businesses are done by trucks. These numbers are getting bigger every year so the complexity of this business sector is also bigger every year.
That is why employers need to simplify their businesses and easily track the workflow of their companies. That is why they use ELD (Electronic Logging Devices). Electronic Logging Device (ELD or E-Log) is electronic hardware that is attached to a commercial motor vehicle engine to record driving hours. The driving hours of commercial drivers ( truck and bus drivers) are regulated by a set of rules known as the hours of service (HOS).
WHAT IS ELD?
As every industry starts to use technology to make their businesses easier, so does the trucking industry also. The most simple definition of the ELD is that ELD is an electronic solution that enables professional truck drivers and commercial motor carriers to easily truck Hours of Service (HOS) compliance. ELD is connected to trucks engine so it can record it the truck is in motion and allow the driver to choose his status (on duty or off duty, or on duty not driving). It can also display a record of duty status, so a driver can quickly see hours in a day.The data from ELD is in the standardized format so it can be used by law enforcement. Data can be transmitted by wireless web services, USB, or Bluetooth 2.0. ELD will effectively catch commercial drivers who ignore federal hours-of-service rules. And any driver who thinks he’s smart enough to simply manipulate the software is in for a rude awakening.But there are some truck drivers who are against ELD saying it kills their time and they can’t finish the job in time. The only thing an ELD can do is tell if a vehicle is moving. People are creative. Technology can always be tweaked for a different outcome. With ELDs, a driver can easily log off when the vehicle is stuck in traffic, that is something you would never do with paper.There are some companies that are against ELD and they were asking for implementation delay of ELD-s , the reason is simple, they want to avoid the law. The inflexibility of hours of service rules while using ELDs has caused detention time to hit drivers harder since implementation.
ELD BENEFITS
Also, as every big industry in the USA, trucking industry demands a tone of paperwork and documentation.ELD provides better solutions because of paperwork reduction and some studies showed that ELD is the good solution when it comes to long-term savings of the company. Based on assumptions stated by the FMCSA in its Regulatory Impact Analysis for ELDs, paperwork savings per driver per year are estimated to total of $705 per year in just paperwork savings alone.
Beside of these benefits, ELD also :
Make it easier, simpler, and quicker to keep driver logs.
Limit mistakes and reduce form and manner errors.
Provide information to drivers and motor carriers so that drivers can better manage fatigue and schedule issues.
Correctly record location and accurate information to easily track duty status.
Is a good management tool and back office asset to improve productivity and enhance compliance.
With ELDs, there is less paperwork, and driver logs are orderly, clear, and accurate.
Carriers said that rate per mile was the most important factor in deciding to take a load, followed by the length of haul and a broker’s reputation. The least important factor was traffic on the route.According to DAT, shippers are not taking driver hours of service into account during loading and offloading, with more than 77% reporting wait times of more than two hours on one out of every five loads. And to top it off, when drivers need to stop driving, as many as 87% of them are having a much harder time finding parking since the ELD mandate took effect in December.Despite the growing pains of ELD implementation and some previous fears of a mass exodus of owner-operators from the trucking industry once the mandate kicked in, only 2.8% of those surveyed said they were likely to leave the trucking industry. ELD is more helpful and surely will save lives of drivers and other people on the road.
No matter the size of your business, logistics is an important arm of your day-to-day operation and helps you utilize your existing supply chain more efficiently. At the same time, efficient logistics and transportation can also help you cut costs and avoid wastage of material and time.
Although there are various modes of transportation available, trucking, especially in the USA, is the most dominant form of transport available. With over $650 million in revenue and more than 3 million trucks on the roads, trucking not only helps connect different American states together but also provides a steady boost to the economy.
What do LTL and FTL mean in the transportation industry? And which one should you choose when you’re shipping your products? If you’re transporting large shipments weighing over 100 pounds then you need to start looking for a transportation and logistics company to save on shipping costs. We’ve outlined the 2 different ground freight options available and defined which one is best for your shipping needs.
What is Less than Truckload Shipping (LTL)?
LTL is a type of ground freight transportation that combines shipments from multiple customers. Businesses choose this budget-friendly option when the consumer demand for their products is average or stable. Less than truckload shipping is affordable for small business because you share the transportation costs with other companies, and use a third-party logistics (3PL) company. Each company takes up a portion of the truck for their goods and only pays according to the amount of product shipped and the length of travel.
LTL shipments often make several stops and unpack and re-pack goods. The shipment will take longer to reach the destination but you’ll save on shipping costs. An experienced transportation logistics company will work hard to save you money by matching your shipments with regularly scheduled shipments heading to the same destination.
Advantages of LTL:
- Cost effective freight transportation
- Ideal for small businesses
What is Full Truckload Shipping (FTL)?
Full truckload can mean 2 things; either you have enough products to fill a full truckload, or you have a partial load but you prefer a dedicated truck. Full truckload is often chosen when businesses have 10 pallets or more to ship, when they have high-risk packages, or when the time is an issue (FTL is faster).
Full truckload costs more than LTL, but it will get your shipment delivered faster—At JBT, we’re proud to point out that our FTL pickup and delivery arrives on schedule 99% of the time!
Advantages of FTL:
- Best way to transport large shipments
- Ideal for high risk or delicate freight shipments
- Shipment remains in the same truck from point A to point B
- Considerably faster than LTL; great for high consumer demand
When Should I Choose FTL or LTL?
When selecting to ship a truckload or less than truckload you will, need to consider these things: the size of your shipment, your shipping budget, how fast you need it delivered, and how delicate your shipment is (is it easily damaged? Or is it temperature sensitive?) If the shipment is large, fragile, and it needs to reach a destination quickly, then FTL is the way to go.
What about the weight of your shipment? Shipments around 100 pounds to 10,000 pounds are usually shipped LTL. Shipments that exceed 10,000 often require a full truckload to ship out. R&S EXpress can give you fast and accurate quotes when you have your wants, needs, and product specs defined.
