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The retail and commercial industry transport their products from plant sites to their retailers and customers and most economical, businesslike and secure way to travel the goods is through over the road trucking. It takes the driver long hours of hauling to move tankers, rigs, flat beds, trailers and 18 wheeler trucks and get the materials and goods for transport reach destination after long distance drive. With the aide of GPS and computerized tracking technologies, over the truck drivers finds reroute to constructions and delivery sites with definite mapping to reach the correct address promptly.
They are Truck drivers who travel over the road and paid for their time and mileage which is subjected to the Hours of Service Regulations of the United States Department of Transportation. They travel freight to specific address using over the road trucks, far distance, day and night to make sure they reach destination in timely manner.
The fundamental responsibility of the Over the Road Driver is to maneuver several tractor-trailer combinations for stretched duration of time, over long distances terminals between yards or work sites, and company/customer facilities, transport and deliver freight which include loading and unloading of the goods undamaged, punctual, and efficient manner. To attain this goal a driver must execute the following:
Over the road truck drivers spend almost all their time on road. Risk such as high blood pressure, stress, and other factors concerning diet and health is very common. Fatigue is a killer in this profession because this causes sleepiness, blurry vision that should not occur during driving and loss of concentration which will eventually take the driver’s attention out of road and even risk lives to accidents. The U.S. Department of Transportation law implies the driver must take enough sleep per driving hours and distance travelled. Apart from being away from home most of the days, truck drivers are even quoted as bad guys or cowboys of the highways. So they need a tough heart to endure loneliness and patience to those who may trigger road and traffic violations.
There isn’t any primary academic requirement to become an OTR driver. As long as the driver can read, and write in fair English (for reporting purposes), of legal age, and has met requirements stated below, you can work as an OTR Driver.
History and trends shows no advancement to the OTR Truck Drivers aside from increase in pay. This mainly depend to the company they work for. If they are employed by mid-sized industries, then it is considerably lower pay they could expect compared to those employed by multi-national companies. With gained experience in OTR driving, these workers get to better paying companies.
Tell us about your experience as a Over the Road Truck Driver . How much you earned, who your employer was, how much education was required or anything that pertains to this career. Help others who are trying to enter into this field. All information is kept anonymous.