How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

Can't fall asleep. Been up since 4am. Leaving for Atlanta for Pittsburg at midnight. Plan to take one of those little energy shot things that you can buy at the gas station. Wil I make it?

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

That's sounds like a solid plan. The question is not will you make it but how many people will you take out trying. Must have a fast truck to do a 700 mile trip through the mountains in one shot. If it were me I'd be sitting there until I got some good rest.

I had a NOS drink this morning (16oz can). OMG - talk about something that gives you the freaking jitters. I couldn't sit still in the truck. Did it wake me up? Well, there's no damn way you're gonna sleep while shaking the way I was.

I just finished a 700 mile run (actually, 699 miles) from Holladay, TN to Reedsville, WV to Keyser, WV. The last 60 miles was, well, hmmm, how do ya say this... It'll be on tomorrow's log. :wink: And, before ya all start ripping my head off and using it as a soccer ball: I had to be at my pickup at 7am. I wasn't about to make the drive between Reedsville and Keyser (through Oakland and Luke, MD) at 5am in the dark and fog.

I hope you are kidding; whether you're serious or kidding that's pretty stupid. How about you don't end up like this guy:

http://www.truckingaccidentattorneyb...prison_fo.html

Or any of the others who have fallen asleep and killed people.

You "buzz" will wear off and you will crash - literally and figuratively.

Starting a drive like that after being up for 20 hours is stupid.

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

It depends, whats the mileage differential pay to run fatigued, in the middle of the night, through mountains and running really tight?

Why would you try? Even if you were payed more it completely violates the purpose for the HOS law. It might not break the "letter of the law" but, damn man, just shut it down. Get on a regular sleep schedule and run smarter not harder.

This is why I do not like running nights.

Excuse me but it is spelled PITTSBURGH, WITH AN "H"!

I plowed snow one time in a tri/axle dump truck for 34hrs

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

Actually, I would be willing to wager the OP is a troll from some misguided anti-trucking group, who has come on here trying to get a rise out of the members of this board.

The poor grammar is probably intentional; after all, truckers are illiterate slobs who run illegally, right? :roll:

With that, I guess this thread has gotten more attention than it deserves.

longest straight-thru drive i ever made- i started in Bend, OR. driving a p/u truck to Tucson, AZ. i dropped my travel trailer there, set it up then left for Burley ID, where i picked up a Pete loaded with drilling equipment. the Pete was frozen in place, so i had to chip away the ice from the tires, and immediately head back to Tucson, where i then slept for 20 hours.
SAM

43 Days. I am ready for a nap.

No Way man.... :x

I been down outlaw road with the last bunch I got entangled with...

Life is too short to get caught up in that crap anymore :dung:

My 10 hour breaks are not compromised.

:lol: :lol: :lol: I'm willing to place bets, that the attorney whom has that blog you posted, made flyers of that very story, and passed them out to as many "victims" from that accident in Saint Louis, we all discussed at length, as he possibly could !!

If you need some energy get some good ole fashion SLEEP. But seriously though if you need a little bit of energy I'd drink 5 hour power. It work great! Red bull and those canned energy drinks are nothing but caffine. The 5 hour power doesn't have sugar or caffine

Sounds to me like the OP has an inordinate yearning to meet God.

Forrest Gump said: Stupid is as Stupid does!! The OP is a case of "proof" of that.

Yeah you know like PITTSBURGH STILLERS! :P

Not that it changes anything regarding the situation in that story, but did anyone else notice this:

Emphasis added.

That aside, I've gotten caught up in the whole 'outlaw' thing myself.. and made haste in abandoning it. It's just not worth it.

Now, let's talk about these ackjasses who openly say these things. Have you ever noticed how, whenever someone goes on a killing spree, the first thing the media seeks to do is find web pages, internet profiles, and such, looking for any prior indication they gave of what they were going to do?
Now, what do you think will happen, should you end up killing somebody in an accident, and their loved ones (plus attorneys) go fishing for evidence to support their lawsuit they file against you and your company?
Seriously, people, use some common [fornicating] sense! :roll:

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

Troll alert! :roll:

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

it all depends on the flight crew! now lets get real, get some sleep :roll:

YINZ going to watch the game tonight? :wink:

Yeah?? How did you LOG it?

Doesn't say in that link HWD provided but wasn't that driver's logs looked thru and came back as being legal? DOT requires drivers to log 10 hours off duty but nothing in the regs say it has to be 10 hours of sleep.

Sleep is the only good energy you can get, if that makes any sense. The longer your awake the more your brain is deprived of proper oxygen, hence you start making mistakes in whatever your doing. If you can get 2 hours of sleep, it is better than none and this is coming from a former stadium worker who spent many days and nights pulling a 20-30 hour shift. We would grab an hour or two of sleep during soundchecks or during the show if we weren't working the actual concert. No amount of soda, Red Bull or coffee could keep you awake and on your toes.

I will have to agree with Mr Ford. Some nights I just can't keep my eyes open with any amount of caffine, but a 20 minute nap works wonders. It isn't really that my brain is tired either, just my eyes hurt from all the genius Masshole drivers using their high beams all night long. I guess they figure the guardrail between the lanes prevents the high beams from bothering the oncoming drivers. :wink:

One time I unloaded in mid state FL (Thurs morning) and waited for around 10 hours to for my next load, of which I probabably 1 or 2 hours of sleep. Got my next load picking up about 50 miles south of Jax on 95 going to Al, close to Birmingham. And if I didn't get it delivered that friday moring, I knew I was going to sit all weekend. So I stopped and got two 24 oz coffees at pilot and got to the drop and had another load stacked on me before I was finished unloading picking up in Tuscaloosa, AL. Amd it was a big, heavy load of steel that required all three of my tarps and a bunch of straps. I made it to the pilot in n/w Tuscaloosa, took a shower and crashed from that afternoon until the next morning.

So, besides that 1-2 hour power nap, I was up for over 30 hours and driving around 600- 650 miles on those 2 cups of coffee, but I don't do a lot of caffiene.

My logs looked right, even though what I did maybe wasn't safe. And I wouldn't recommend doing it to anyone!

Yes...You know how you might wake up in the morning and somehow end up

getting loaded at 8 in the evening (nearly 16 hrs later)

(those runs which will require you to run all night through the morning for a 4 or 2 am delivery)

you guys know what i am babbling about ....

I simply tell my dispatcher to keep those ....i tell him lets try again tomorrow...i cant drive tired like that.

People should boycott these outlaw groups and not apply or work for them
that try and run you hard when its unsafe

Frozen Yogurt aint worth dying for...and the phone bill can wait

Boston to Los angeles, with 6 hrs total sleep . was a long time ago in a 58 mile per hr Dodge( yes Dodge) cab over, no i couldn't have logged it and yes i was still making out my log book two days later

That's the best advice I've seen on this thread . . prevention.

Don't try to be a hero and don't knowingly be a fool.

UH... let me see... what year is it?? :lol:

Why try and run illegal? Stupidity is the greatest killer on the road

Before you try justifying your ill-advised actions....there are only a few things you HAVE to do out here:

1. Be safe..always. If it can't be done safely, don't do it...ever.
2. Use common sense.

I'm sure the families of those 7 dead children will all be SO comforted to know you HAD to be there by 7am. That should take their LIFETIME of pain go away.

Save yourself a long prison sentence, and your family a lifetime of unhappiness....park your truck and find another line of work.

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

[quote="str.whl.hldr"]In trucking??? Dispatchers wont let you. The fact that your actually human and need sleep means nothing to them. Example...

You have slept all night, woke up, spent all day waiting on a load. Now its 9 pm and your ready for bed... sorry... you just got a load that has to be 500 miles away in the morning. Can you run it legally... yes... you have had at leat 10 hours off. What does dispatch say when you tell them you've been up all day? "You have had all day... you should have been resting." So you either run it tired, or you refuse it and possibly get fired.

The HOS ruled simply do not work. Unless you own your own authority, you will never have a regular sleep schedule and you WILL run tired or you wont have a job very long... and its very hard to pay bills on a "do you want fries with that?" paycheck.

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

[quote="rigidsporty"]Well said and very true.

Re: How long have you driven on no sleep?
 

Great post! That kind of schedule will wear you out and make an old man out of you fast. Exactly why I got out of irregular-route OTR trucking.

This post should be a sticky!

Very good post indeed....but here's my question....what does your dispatcher say when you tell him(her?) it's unsafe?

I was asked to do just that at one time, and I explained that I could NOT do that safely, and that I could get it there the following afternoon. They didn't argue, and found me another load...

I have no comment on this topic....

...but ask SteveBooth. His log shows him napping 4 times a day, and even logs 15 minutes for taking his Geritol (spelled right?) :lol:

You know the other week I had drove my entire 11 hour shift and then my girlfriend took over driving her shift and she wasnt very familiar with the route so I stayed awake a couple hours into her shift. So after a couple hours I finally went to sleep and fell asleep hard. Well she woke me up to use the restroom because thats what we do, everytime we pull over to fuel up or use the restroom we wake each other up to make sure we dont have to use the bathroom 20 miles down the road after her or I had already pulled over to use the restroom. Anyways after that I had a really hard time falling asleep and I just couldnt do it. Finally after laying there for who knows how long I fell asleep.........then she woke me up!!! It was my turn to drive again, she drove her entire 11 hour shift and it felt like I had just went to sleep and I literally did, I had only slept for about a half hour. So total sleep for the day was 2 1/2 hours!!!
So I began to try to psych myself out making myself believe I wasnt tired....ya right!!! I had done this before and knew I could do it. So I popped not 1 but 2 yellow hornet pills! Last time I took these I shook so bad I felt like I was having convulsions, but I knew they would keep me awake for at least 10 hours.
So I began my shift.....not 45 mins. into my shift my eyes became extremely heavy and no matter what I did I couldnt get any energy. So I remembered I had a 32oz. MONSTER energy drink stashed in my cooler so I got it out and chugged this thing! Noting, not a darn thing happened, I made it another 45 minutes and said you know what...f*%k it, if this load is late oh well, if I get fired oh well, if they get mad at me oh well!! So I jumped in bed and slept HARD for about 4 hours and then I felt just fine and continued my shift!! So like some of you have said theres absolutely NOTHING that can replace sleep!!! I know my limits and that night my limits had been reached so if it happens to you, just pull it over we're only human.

Oh and yes we made the load in time......5 whole minutes to spare!!!!!

It's not technically correct, but my first stint in trucking (about 8 years long), I basically worked with what was apparently no sleep.

It's because I discovered upon returning to the industry one year ago that I have severe sleep apnea, and probably hadn't slept well in over 20 years. Couldn't get through a day without a nap most of the time.

I've had my CPAP 11 months now. I have not felt the need to nap one time...no, not once....since I've had it. However, I've also not had the urge to run 4000 miles a week either. Life is too short.

Now, I usually feel so good I wish I COULD drive more than 11 in a day, but ironically, when it's time to sleep, I have no problem falling asleep. I think it's the anticipation of getting good rest, instead of the anxiety of knowing I'm going to get up five or six times a night.

Oh, BTW....yes, I heartily recommend a sleep study. Just in case anyone was wondering. :D

since i haul livestock, i'm always doped up on crystal meth. i drive nonstop to wherever i am going. sleep is something i haven't done for about a week!


















































































i am kidding!

It is funny how so many fell for this troll's bait. :lol: :lol:

I wonder how many millions the energy drink people make each year. The truck stops have all those overpriced energy shots almost falling off the counters.

I really dont feel that much of an effect after I drink them but I seem to always end up buying them. They are extremely overpriced.

Coffee actually has more caffeine than energy drinks!!

"A study in the September Consumer Reports shows that the amount of caffeine found in eight ounces of 12 popular energy drinks ranged from 50 to135mg, with most in the 75 to 80mg range, reports Reuters. That compares to the amount of caffeine in an eight ounce cup of coffee, which ranged from 65 to 120mg, with an average of 85mg, says the National Coffee Association."