Staying Healthy on Long Hauls

When traveling long distance, it’s difficult to maintain a healthy diet. Because of the ease of fast food and pre-packaged food, eating healthy seems to become a chore. Perhaps you are looking to make a lifestyle change on the road. Or maybe you’re starting your trucking career and have a concern about staying healthy on the road.

Staying Healthy: Tips for Long Hauls

Snacking

If you eat out of habit, make sure the foods you are putting into your body are doing more good than they are bad. Snacks like nuts, trail mix, and granola are great and easy to keep in reach. Staying healthy, for you, could mean snacking in moderation, or changing your go-to road snack!

Eating

Try to eat three meals within the day. This adds to your goal of staying healthy because it prevents you from over-eating after missing a meal. If you eat regular meals throughout the day, the weight will be easier to keep off.

Not Just Eating

Exercise! Try taking a small walk during a stop. Staying healthy will be easier for you if you’re doing more than just eating better. You can start small and gradually add to your walks/runs. Your body will begin to notice the difference, and this small boost of activity will increase your energy, as well! Your walk can be as short as 10 minutes or as long as you would like!

After your outdoor activities, you can work out on the road, too! You can do things like shoulder shrugs (bringing your shoulders to your ears and holding for a few seconds). This will release tension in your neck and shoulders. Staying healthy isn’t difficult, you just need to consciously make the choice! Also, you can try abdominal crunches. Squeezing your abs and holding it for a period of time (think, 2 minutes or the length of a song).

Keep Track

If you can, start a journal of what you’re eating and when. In addition, log what kind of exercise you did for the day. By nothing this, you’ll be able to see your progress and potentially be able to spot problem areas if you’re not seeing results.

Truck Driving-Related Work Injuries

There are plenty of different fields you can enter within the workforce. Form physical labor, to desk jobs, and even hitting the road. The thing to remember with any job, is that they come with their own set of risks. Even desk jobs come with a heightened risk of back and neck injuries. Another field that often leads to back injuries, is truck driving. Truck driving-related work injuries are extremely common due to the nature of the job. While many injuries are obvious in nature, there are also a few which you might not have considered… 

Truck Driving-Related Work Injuries

Back and Neck 

Quite obviously, when it comes to truck driving-related work injuries, your back is at a high risk of facing issue. If you consider what a truck driver is doing— driving long hours, sleeping in close quarters, and also occasionally lifting and unloading heavy materials… It’s easy to see how these injuries would occur. Therefore, it’s important to practice good posture in driving and lifting.

Consider purchasing additional support for your driver’s seat, and also pulling over for a stretch every now and then. While stiffness is pesky, it’s also not low-impact. You want to stretch your muscles, maybe take a short walk, and engage your back before sitting back down in that seat to avoid truck driving-related work injuries.

Slips and Falls 

While you might not think that there’s much action which can lead to injury— there are actually a few different ways to face slip and fall truck driving-related work injuries. From getting in and out of the truck, to lifting the back door, lowering the lift gate… Even these seemingly small actions put you at risk for taking a tumble and hurting yourself. 

Repetitive Stress Injuries, and Ignored Issues 

You’re sitting in the truck for long periods of time. Your back might hurt a little bit, but you’re not too concerned. However, ignoring those little pains can lead to a bigger issue, and serious truck driving-related work injuries. In fact, ignoring that injury can lead to further injury down the line. Due to the fact that your back is under stress, and ignored— the issue can amplify.

There isn’t the same opportunity to heal while continuing your job when you’re a truck driver. Instead, you’re sitting down. Therefore, it’s important to take a day or tow when you need it. That way, you can avoid a prolong time spent off the road to trying to recover from truck driving-related work injuries. 

Bobtail Trucks: How They Differ

You might assume that driving a truck without its trailer would be easier than driving with it. However, driving these bobtail trucks can actually be more risky than you’d expect. Driving bobtail requires one to be focused and aware of how their truck changes…

Bobtail Trucks: Driving Safely

Understand the Risk

As mentioned before, bobtail trucks are trucks which are driving without a trailer attached. At first glance, this may appear to be the safest way to drive these trucks. The trucks look like they should preform even better without the added weight of the trailer. However, it turns out this isn’t quite the case.

The added weight of a trailer helps a truck keep all its tires on the road. Removing these trailers then places all the weight on the front two tires of the truck. This means truck drivers will have to be aware of how differently their truck will handle while driving bobtail.

Ease on the brakes

Truck drivers normally have to use some force when they want to brake. However, with bobtail trucks, braking becomes a different story. Hitting the brakes hard could result in your truck flipping over due to the unbalanced weight. It helps to visualize it like you’re riding a bike. You’ll flip your bike if you brake with all the weight on the front wheel, and the same idea applies with bobtail trucks.

To avoid this, you should try to ease on the brakes instead. This will help keep the truck grounded and come to a safer stop. Furthermore, this helps the truck come to a stop sooner as well. You might also want to avoid other braking methods like engine braking when driving bobtail. 

Check you clearance

Something else to keep in mind is your truck’s clearance when driving bobtail. Truck drivers know they have to make sure their clearance is at a level that allows them to pass under bridges or through tunnels. A trailer actually helps lower a truck’s clearance. The added weight helps to push the truck just a bit lower to the ground than usual. 

However, without this added weight, your truck might have raised back up in height. That’s why it helps to double-check your clearance just in case. After all, you wouldn’t want to realize your truck’s too tall after its too late!

Reasons to Become a Truck Driver: Choosing the Open Road

If you’re trying to pick a career path— chances are, you’ve considered a lot of different options. But one you might’ve skipped over, is becoming a truck driver. Maybe you don’t think the money is worth it, you aren’t comfortable driving a large vehicle, and the thought of it is daunting. But, what you might not know, is that there are plenty of positive reasons to become a truck driver. So, before you say no— take a look at our list of reasons why being a truck driver, might be right up your alley.

Reasons to Become a Truck Driver: Why the Open Road Might Be Your Best Path

Job Security

There are plenty of opportunities within the field of truck driving. As we’ve said, it can be pretty daunting. Because of that, many people don’t even consider it. Therefore, there are plenty of jobs available between the U.S. and Canada. If you are willing and want to find a place within this field, there are plenty of opportunities.

You have options

After a year or two on the road, you’ll get a feel for what makes you comfortable. Once you’ve established yourself, you can decide what type of truck you’d like to drive. Some offer more money than others, and you ultimately can make an easy transition being that you’re in the same field. Not to mention, you can always become an instructor. There is schooling for truck drivers too— it’s no different than any other career path. So, if you want to get off the open road every now and then, there are instructor positions that might be readily available.

Some companies will provide family-wide benefits

If you find a good company, or negotiate, the possibility of family-wide benefits is available. Having this is a major selling point for most, as one large part of feeling that job security— is having access to quality healthcare. Especially if you have a family to consider.

It’s something new every day

Sure, you’re always on the road— but it’s ever-changing. if you crave a career that isn’t monotonous work behind a desk, this is the opposite of that. New cities, new people, new sites to see— it’s not half bad if you enjoy the change.

You can get trained up and ready to go pretty quickly

Courses might range in length, but ultimately— you can become licensed in as little as 8 weeks if you’d like. There’s a lot to learn, but if you apply yourself— it’s a career path that you can begin with a little more immediacy than some other paths.

Semi-truck Accidents: Common Causes

If you are going on a long road trip, it is not uncommon to come across semi-truck accidents. These vehicles are very large and heavy. Because of this, they can be dangerous for their drivers as well as other people on the road. While many things can happen on the road, there are a few common causes of truck accidents.

Semi-truck Accidents: What Can Cause Them?

Driver Fatigue

One of the most common causes of semi-truck accidents is driver fatigue. It is not uncommon for truck drivers to have to drive 1000s of miles in a few days. Many truck drivers are paid based on the number of miles they drive. Due to that, it is lucrative for truck drivers to drive further distances in a smaller time period. The more miles they cram in, the more money they can make. 

There are rules that regulate the number of hours that a driver can drive per day. Additionally, there are rules for how often and how long they must take breaks. It is important for these drivers to take breaks and be well-rested.

Driver Distractions

Additionally, it is easy for a cell phone, GPS, food, and many other things to distract drivers. Distractions are a cause semi-truck accidents. Since their trips can be long, truck drivers can get distracted. Therefore, truck drivers should try and avoid as many distractions as possible. For example, drivers should avoid using their cell phones or messing with their GPS while driving. Not paying attention to the road could end up costing someone their life.

Driver Inexperience

Another common reason for a semi-truck accidents is driver inexperience or inadequate training. In some cases, new drivers can be on the road immediately after finishing their trucking courses. This is because inexperienced drivers are going to provide cheaper labor than experienced ones. Unfortunately, this could lead to these drivers being unfamiliar with their assigned truck. If this is the case, errors are more likely to happen. More training could lead to fewer accidents.

A driver may not know how to properly control their truck if they are not used driving a very large, heavy vehicle. This could include speeding, or taking turns or curves too sharply. Since trucks are very heavy, they will also brake much differently than a regular car will. It may take a new truck driver some time to improve his or her driving skills.

Loading Issues 

Some semi-truck accidents can actually come from poorly loaded cargo. Sometimes, incorrectly loaded cargo can lead to an improperly weighted truck. This could cause the truck to be difficult to maneuver. It could also lead a truck to jack-knife, potentially causing serious injuries.

There are many factors that could lead to semi-truck accidents. However, proper training, correct loading, fewer distractions and rested drivers could all help to reduce the number of trucking accidents.

Types of Truck Accidents: Use Caution

Semi-trucks are everywhere you look on the highways. However, due to their weight and size, they are prone to get into an accident. There are many types of truck accidents. No matter which type it is, they can be very dangerous. Truck drivers need to be very careful when they are driving. However, other cars need to be aware and mindful around trucks as well.

Types of Truck Accidents: Different Ways They Can Cause Accidents

The Vehicle

There are several ways in which the truck itself can cause the accident. A jackknife is one of the types of truck accidents. This happens when a truck trailer folds up on itself so that the cab now forms a 90 degree angle with the trailer. This can happen when a driver brakes hard and quickly. The weight of the trailer brings it forward against the cab, especially if the truck is overloaded. There is also the possibility for a truck to rollover. This could be a result of a driver losing control of his truck. This could cause a lot of danger to the other cars on the road too. 

Trucks can make very wide turns. A wide turn is when a driver swings left before making a right turn. When the driver is not aware of rear traffic or the right side surroundings, it can trap vehicles or even pedestrians. Trucks also have very large blind spots. This can make it dangerous for cars nearby, as a truck may not be able to see them. A truck could change lanes right into another car if the car is in it’s blind spot.

Debris

Another one of the types of truck accidents is caused by debris from the truck. Semi-trucks are known for having tire blow outs. This is because they are so heavy that they put a lot of pressure on their tires. When this happens, a big, heavy tire could get thrown up into the air. The tire could hit other cars or block the roadway. It is also possible for a semi-truck to loose it’s cargo load. If the driver or loaders do not properly load or secure the cargo, it could fall out. The lost cargo can then cause a hazard.

Other Cars

It is also possible for other cars on the road to cause a collision with a semi-truck. These can be very serious. It is possible for another car to get stuck underneath the trailer of a truck. This can happen if the truck stops quickly and the other car doesn’t have enough space to react in time. These are one of the most dangerous types of truck accidents.

A car could also be in a head-on collision, or a T-Bone accident, with a semi-truck. These could be either parties fault, depending on what the circumstances were about the crash. Just as with any accident involving a semi-truck, these can be very serious. This is why it is so important to be a defensive driver.