Long-haul truck driving is a fascinating occupation that might appeal to many people. To answer the first obvious question, the money can be decent, especially in today’s economy. It gives drivers the opportunity to get out of their towns and see the country. More than anything else, becoming a truck driver, a part of the OTR drivers gang, is a great way to hit the reset button on a life and get a fresh start.
Unlike many careers, becoming a truck driver doesn’t require a four-year degree. You don’t need three years of experience as a truck driver to become a truck driver. In many cases, you never even have to touch the cargo. However, there are a few requirements and steps before you can start your new life.
Minimum Age and Driving Record
There are only a couple things that can really hold you back if you want to be an over the road (OTR) driver. First, the minimum age is 21. There’s no getting around that; it’s the minimum age limit handed down by the Department of Transportation. Next, your driving record must be reasonably clean. Your state may allow you to take an online defensive driving course to remove points. Being rear-ended won’t raise any eyebrows, but a few accidents where you’re at fault will. A speeding ticket earned at a young age is fine, but a bunch of points on your license can certainly stand in your way. Better take that NY Defensive Driving course to get those points down if you want a career as a truck driver!
Education
No college degree is required. For many trucking companies, a high school diploma isn’t required either, but it’s still definitely preferred. What companies do require is a valid CDL license.
Students will first need to obtain their CDL (commercial driver’s license) permit. That can be done through a written exam at their local DMV. They’d want to study the material first, then take and pass the permit test. After that, there are a couple of options open to them.
The first option is to pick a qualified, reputable truck-driving school. Most schools offer flexible schedules and can be completed in two weeks, if the student works hard. Schools will take the student all the way through obtaining the CDL, most even providing the truck necessary to take the road test. These schools require payment up front, which seems to be the only downside. On the other hand, many trucking companies offer tuition reimbursement, up to a certain amount. This is usually paid at a rate of $100-200 per month until the tuition is fully paid off.
The second option, which is better for those who don’t have much money saved up, is to go through paid training with their preferred trucking company. These programs are taught by many large trucking companies known for hiring (for lack of a better term) entry-level drivers. No experience is required. Most companies will provide transportation to the training facility for a stay of about two weeks. Room and board are also usually covered. During this paid training, students learn everything they need to know to become trainee truck drivers. Completion of the training also guarantees the new driver a job with the company. There is one drawback though. These programs cost nothing up front because the cost is usually applied to the driver’s paychecks for their first couple of years as a driver. New drivers end up paying much more than if they’d paid out of pocket for the first option.
On the Road Training
After completing the training and orientation for their chosen trucking companies, new drivers will be assigned a trainer. The trainer will take the trainee out on the road and teach them all the tips and tricks that simply can’t be learned elsewhere. Once the trainer and the company deem the new driver ready to drive solo, they are set free on the open road.
Even on the Federal Highway System, the Rules of The Road vary from state to state. Here we’ve collected and commented on some of the more arcane and unusual traffic laws you may want to remember if you live in, or travel in the United States. Read up! Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and if you break the law, you may have to take traffic school to dismiss the ticket.
Alabama – It’s illegal to drive a car while blindfolded.
Alaska – No driving with a dog tethered to your car.
Arizona – It’s against the law to drive a car in reverse on a public road.
Arkansas – in Little Rock it’s against the law to honk your car horn anywhere that serves cold drinks or sandwiches after 9 p.m.
California – In Glendale, it’s illegal to jump from a car going over 65 mph.
Colorado – It’s illegal to drive a black car on a Sunday in Denver.
Connecticut – it’s illegal to hunt from a car.
Delaware – “R” rated movies shall not be shown at drive-in theaters.
Florida – It is illegal to skateboard without a license.
Georgia – There’s no driving through playgrounds in Georgia.
Hawaii – It’s against the law for a vehicle in motion to use its hazard lights. People might think it’s a Luau.
Idaho – it’s forbidden for Senior Citizens over the age of 88 must lose all sense of balance, them to ride a motorcycle in Idaho Falls.
Illinois – It’s illegal to drive a car without a steering wheel. And, of course, impossible.
Indiana – It’s against the law to sell cars on Sundays. Try Maine.
Iowa – No vehicle may sell ice cream in Indianola, Iowa.
Kansas – No tire screeching in Derby, Kansas.
Kentucky – It’s illegal for your pet to molest a vehicle in Fort Thomas.
Louisiana – A woman’s husband is required by law to walk in front of the car waving a flag as she drives it.
Maine – It’s illegal to buy a car on a Sunday. Better move to Indiana.
Maryland – It’s a misdemeanor to swear from a vehicle while driving through Rockville.
Massachusetts – You cannot drive with a gorilla in your backseat. In the front seat is okay with the seat belt buckled.
Michigan – It’s against the law to sit in the middle of the street and read a newspaper. But in Detroit you may lie there and be covered by one.
Minnesota – You can be charged as a public nuisance if your truck leaves mud, dirt or sticky substances on the road in Minnetonka.
Mississippi – In Oxford, it’s illegal to honk your horn, even though it is an additional means of communication included in the price of your car.
Missouri – You can’t honk someone else’s car horn in University City, Missouri.
Montana – You can’t drive a herd of livestock numbering more than 10 on an interstate highway unless the herd is preceded and followed by flagmen.
Nebraska – By law, drivers on mountains should drive with caution near the right edge of the highway. Surprisingly, Bighorn Mountain rises to 4,731 feet.
Nevada – Even though it’s the desert, t’s illegal to ride a camel on the highway.
New Hampshire – It’s against the law to inhale bus fumes with the intent of inducing euphoria. If you want to kill yourself, that’s covered under a different law.
New Jersey – If you have been convicted of DUI, you can never apply for personalized license plates.
New Mexico – It may or may not be kidnapping, but it is illegal for cab drivers to reach out and pull potential customers into their taxis.
New York – It’s against the law to disrobe in your car in the beach town of Sag Harbor, Long Island.
North Carolina – In Dunn, North Carolina it’s illegal to play in traffic.
North Dakota – it’s illegal to lie down and fall asleep with your shoes on.
Ohio – It’s illegal to run out of gas in Youngstown.
Oklahoma –Cars must be tethered outside of public buildings. No guidance on to what.
Oregon – It is illegal to place a container filled with human fecal matter on the side of any highway. No containers!
Pennsylvania –Any motorist who sights a team of horses coming toward him must pull well off the road, cover his car with a blanket or canvas that blends with the countryside, and let the horses pass.
Rhode Island – One must make a loud noise before passing a car on the left. Preferably with your vehicle’s horn.
South Carolina – When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft. from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.
South Dakota – No horses are allowed into Fountain Inn unless they are wearing pants.
Tennessee – It’s illegal to shoot game from a moving vehicle. But hitting it with your car is legal, and can be delicious.
Texas – You must have windshield wipers to register a car.
Utah – By law, birds have the right of way on all highways. Luckily, they don’t usually exercise it.
Vermont – It’s illegal for cars to backfire in Rutland.
Virginia – Radar detectors are illegal.
Washington – A motorist with criminal intentions must stop at the city limits and telephone the chief of police as he is entering the town.
West Virginia – It’s legal to eat road kill. No info on whether you can shoot it from your car.
Wisconsin – One may not camp in a wagon on any public highway.
Wyoming – If you open a gate over a road, river, stream or ditch, you’d must close it behind you.
Now that voters in Colorado and Washington State have decided they want recreational use of marijuana to be legal, police are busy reminding drivers that although they can now legally use marijuana (by state law, but not federal law) they are still not permitted to drive while stoned.
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is illegal in all 50 states and police frown on this activity, showing little mercy for drivers caught driving while impaired. In some cases the substance which the driver is under the influence of is legal (like alcohol) or illegal (like prescription drugs or marijuana.) Just because marijuana is now legal in Colorado doesn’t suddenly mean it is legal for drivers to operate a vehicle under its influence.
In fact, because the recreational use of marijuana is now legal police are anticipating an increase in the number of drivers who might be under its influence when they climb behind the wheel. Marijuana is known to slow reaction times and judgement in users, which is a true detriment to someone trying to navigate roads and bridges in a 3-thousand pound missile made of steel, glass and plastic.
Police are now equipped with test kits to determine if marijuana is present on a drivers person, and a simple blood test, which drivers must agree to upon request by police or forfeit their license, is as quick as a trip to the local hospital.
In 2007 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discovered that 16 percent of drivers stopped during weekend driving were positive for drugs (besides alcohol) and when they checked again in 2009 that percentage had increased to more than 30 percent. This means that although the use of marijuana is illegal practically everywhere many drivers are still under the influence. Now that it is legal in some places, police are bracing for what they perceive will be a big increase in the number of drivers they catch who are ‘driving high.’
The state of
Colorado has a reason to celebrate this week after a recent report shows the number of people arrested on charges of driving under the influence has fallen more than 17 percent since 2009.
In fact, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation alcohol-related traffic fatalities declined steadily from 2001 to 2010, marking a positive trend for the first time in more than a decade.
This could be attributed in part to the number of police on the roads, increased enforcement and increased public awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol.
“I think people are being more cautious about it,” Jefferson County District Attorney Scott Storey said. “Through harsher punishments, more DUI checkpoints and the stories in the news, it seems more people are getting the message.”
DUI/DWAI cases in Jefferson County have dropped by 507 since 2009, records show.
The number of DUI/DWAI cases filed in Denver County dropped by more than 1,200 over the past three years.
“People know we are out there and we are looking,” Denver police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez said.
DUI defense attorney Jeremy Rosenthal said changes to the DUI/DWAI law in 2008 may be working to keep people from making bad decisions, but he said many are still unaware of the more severe punishments.
Despite repeated attempts by lawmakers to give police the power to identify and arrest
drivers under the influence of marijuana, two separate bills designed to do just this ultimately failed to garner enough support and died in the legislature.
The measure when intended to set a blood level THC content for police to test for. THC is the chemical in marijuana which creates the ‘high’ that makes it popular with some people. The effect is similar to being drunk. It stimulates some senses, and diminishes others. This creates a situation where drivers under the influence have reduced reaction times and a decrease in their cognitive skills.
Although medical marijuana is widely used and legal in Colorado, police and some law makers have said it poses a serious risk to drivers who might be either under the influence of marijuana or sharing the road with someone who is.
Without the new law it is nearly impossible for police or prosecutors to prove that a driver is under the influence of marijuana. They can cite drivers for driving recklessly, or violating traffic laws, but if they believe the underlying cause is marijuana influence, they have no tool to prevent or provide for that.
Police and prosecutors, while not opposed to medical marijuana, have said they believe of driving under the influence of marijuana is dangerous and a threat to public safety. They said the proposed law would have given them a tool to help fight driving under the influence of marijuana, and help convince drivers that driving under the influence of marijuana was dangerous.
Having failed repeatedly to bring the proposed marijuana influence law to a full vote, the Colorado legislature seems unwilling to pick up the issue again any time soon. Although some in the legislature have said they are committed to the effort and said they will not rest until law enforcement is given the tools to control what they consider a serious risk to public safety.
In 2005
Colorado legislators moved to legalize the use of marijuana for certain specific medical reasons. The so-called “medical marijuana’ law has been in place for the past several years now and the state has seen an economic boom which sustained it through the recent Great Recession.
However, police have also seen an increase in the number of drivers they suspect of operating a motor vehicle while stoned, but without a law allowing them to test a driver’s blood level for tell-tale signs of marijuana police have been powerless to do anything about it. All of that is about to change however, if a new law continues moving through the Colorado legislature.
On an 18-17 vote, the Colorado Senate approved a measure making it easier to convict people of driving stoned on marijuana. The bill now moves to the Colorado House where it seems likely to garner enough support to pass, although the bill looked dead on arrival when it got to the Senate earlier this week.
The new law would set a limit for the amount of THC-the psycho active chemical in marijuana which makes people feel “high”- at 5 nanograms-per-milliliter of blood. This is a similar method to the setting the blood alcohol content at .08 and is similarly enforceable.
Police entrusted with the power to protect public safety, but that power only goes as far as the law allows. So far police have been powerless to address what they perceive is a real threat to driver safety on the roads in Colorado. If the proposed bill eventually becomes law police will have one more weapon in their effort to get “stoned” drivers off the road.
If the bill passes the Colorado legislature it also seems likely that it will spur other states to pursue similar laws in an effort to combat the growing marijuana problem in the United States.
Some Colorado lawmakers are looking to expand the definition of ‘driving under the influence’ to include being under the effects of marijuana.
Although no definitive study has been done, analysts theorize that there are more drivers operating vehicles under the influence of marijuana than there are drunk drivers. Studies done by the AAA have shown that teenagers believe they are more capable of driving under the effects of marijuana, and do it more often, than alcohol.
Despite what many believe, marijuana is a mind altering substance which has been shown to slow reaction times and impair judgement. Both of which are important for drivers looking to arrive at their destination safely. Traffic school is a good place to learn the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, not on the road behind the wheel of an automobile with your friends in the car.
If Colorado Senate bill 117 is passed into law it will set 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood as the upper limit for THC found in blood samples taken by law enforcement as the standard for intoxication. THC is the active ingredient in marijuana which causes the mind altering effects. By setting an upper limit for marijuana intoxication Colorado lawmakers hope to dissuade users from getting behind the wheel while they are ‘high.’
The Colorado Department of Transportation has been track traffic crashes related to the use of drugs by the driver and the most recent numbers prompted the move by legislators. Colorado state law currently allows for the use of medical marijuana when prescribed by a physician. The lingering effects of marijuana in the bloodstream, often remaining for up to 30 days, have some questioning whether the 5 nanogram limit for testing will prove adequate or accurate, but for lawmakers it’s a good place to start.
The bill still needs to be passed by the entire senate and it is unclear when that might happen. For now marijuana users are on notice that driving stoned will likely no longer be tolerated.
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