How To Have A More Successful Truck Driving Career

After you have accepted your first truck driving job, you might wonder how you can advance and earn higher wages. Depending on the decisions that you make as a driver, you can become more experienced and also develop a reputation for reliability, which will help further your career.

Try To Avoid Refusing Loads

You are legally required to work under a certain number of hours and you should never work if you are sick or tired. However, when you're not sick, tired, or over your hour limit, you should avoid refusing loads. The more loads you accept, the more likely that you will be seen to have a good work ethic and the more likely that you will be promoted. 

Diversify Your Experience

Acquire as much experience as possible. To gain more experience, two great options are to transfer between divisions within your own company or to transfer to a different company. One of the advantages of staying within the same company is that you can take advantage of your seniority. For example, seniority affects how much you will earn. However, you may wish to transfer to a company that offers better benefits.

Avoid Traffic

When you travel through populated areas, you are best off taking a less direct route. Taking a more direct route will increase the risk that you will run into traffic, which will cost you money through wasted gas. Become familiar with routes that are projected to experience congestion. Simply remember that you are restricted on which roads you are allowed to drive on. By choosing the right route, you will be less likely find yourself rushing to your destination, which can reduce the risk that you will have an accident.

A useful tool for avoiding traffic is a GPS device that has traffic-predictive technology. Based on past traffic patterns, traffic-predictive technology helps you determine which route will be the fastest.

Try to avoid driving during rush hour. Since you might be legally obligated to rest at some point during your route, you may choose to rest during rush hour. Not driving during rush hour will also reduce your risk of having an accident.

Drive Safely

One of the fastest ways to end your truck driving career is to have too many safety violations. This can include preventable accidents and logs that aren't clean and accurate. The best way to drive safely is to be trained properly by participating in truck driving courses, like those offered at Donovan's Driver Education Ltd Edmonton. By avoiding accidents, you will not only be able to keep your license, but your truck will stay in service and you will avoid legal troubles.

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