Articles
The Untold dangers of APU's
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Auxiliary Power Units, better known as APU's, have been popular with truckers for many years. Since it makes little sense to run a massive truck engine of several hundred horse power to maintain comfortable cab temperatures while the driver is resting. While a APU can preform the same task, a-long with what is referred to as Hotel loads which would include such appliances as refrigerators, TV's microwave ovens and more, using only a small fraction of the energy. That truck engine is not designed to idle for long periods. When idling at low RPM's unburned fuel runs down the cylinder walls and dilutes the oil! It's not unusual for engines that are routinely idled to ware-out in half the time of engines that do the same work, but are not idled.
The other day I was driving my semi-truck south bound on U.S. Highway 41 in central Indiana. It was a beautiful sunny day and the only other traffic was another semi that I had past that was keeping up with me but staying back several truck lengths. I had some good talk radio on the XM that I was getting into, and all was right with the world. And then it happened! A car came up to the highway from a side road in front of me and “did” stop at the stop sign, I bet you thought something different.
One needs to develop and maintain: "The Mind-Set of a Professional Driver”,
To strive to do my job as safely and efficiently as possible,
To be competent in all areas, not just my job but also in my life,
To be aware of all things around me and my vehicle,
Becoming one with the truck, an extension of self.
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Today in the back of my mind I was telling myself the above mantra while doing deep breathing, as I have done countless times before. It brings me peace and presence of mind at times of stress, apprehension and anxiety. It was eight a.m. and I was approaching downtown Philadelphia with 46,000 pounds of copper coated zinc blanks for the U.S. Mint, ready to be stamped into eighty million pennies. Once stamped that would be $800,000 in cold hard cash. Not bad for some zinc and a little copper (they stopped using all copper in 1980).
During these times of financial instability, I am reminded of the recession of the early 1980's, in particular 1981. Reagan was sworn in and allowed the Trucking Deregulation Act of 1979, which was written by Ted Kennedy and signed into law by Ppresident Carter, to be implemented and thereby started "the race to the bottom". I will save my thoughts on that for a future article. Back to 1981; at the time that was the worst year our economy had seen since the great depression. I was an owner operator since 1976, with 1980 being my best financial year I had ever had, even to date adjusting for inflation. Then, in 1981, the bottom fell out of not just the trucking industry but the whole economy. My significant other, now my wife, had given birth to my first child in November, which I was home for. However, shortly before Christmas I was in northern California loading for New England, which with any luck would get me home to Illinois for the holiday. Well one thing that hadn't changed was the winter weather across Interstate 80. That year it was a mess from Reno to the East coast, so I took the southern route (Bakersfield to Barstow then up Rt 66).
My Opinion on Legal Membership Plans
Like I tell my kids, “opinions are like noses, almost everyone has one and they all smell”. Therefore, this is my opinion of Legal Membership Plans based on over three decades as a professional driver and being a member of one since 1985. Back then, a friend/business associate of mine invited my wife, Donni, and I over for coffee and presented PrePaid Legal (PPL) to us. At the time there was talk of going to just one National Drivers License, which later became our current CDL program. Keep in mind that 55 mph was the law of the land and many states/municipalities viewed OTR truckers as "cash cows" that they had a right to milk as we wandered through “their kingdom.”
I live in a truck is brought to you by the OTR Jobs Family.
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We pioneered the concept of allowing the driver to post his or her resume anonymously thereby giving us drivers the ability to see whats available out there without giving out our identity. We didn’t want to limit this service to just Americans and so we added www.otrjobs.ca for Canadians. And likewise rookies have the hardest time getting their foot in the door so we’ve added www.otrrookies.com for them.
So what are you waiting for? Click on one of these links and post your info! Unless you are thrilled with your current situation that is. There are lots of great opportunities out there, you owe it to yourself and family to get the most out of your career.
Trucking Etiquette, Proper Passing and Sharing the Road Techniques
The first aspect that I would like to cover is this… Imagine yourself on a road where you are all alone, as long as you don’t fall asleep or have mechanical difficulties the chance that you will have an accident are minimal. Now lets add some traffic, the more traffic the more there is to be aware of. Some of the other drivers are distracted, some are tired, some are in a hurry and then there are the ones that are inexperienced. They might be sixteen years old and newly licensed drivers, or they might be sixty and fresh out of Truck Driving School. My point is this, always watch out for the other guy!And the reason for that is if you know where the other guy (or traffic) is you have less of a chance of them hitting you. Or, you becoming distracted and hitting them.
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