I Can’t Sleep - Truck Driver | Gentle Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Drift off with this calm bedtime reading about truck drivers, created to ease insomnia and bring peaceful rest. In this soothing episode, Benjamin explores the role of truck drivers in transportation and commerce, their daily routines, and the history of this essential profession. His steady, reassuring narration transforms practical details into a gentle story, helping release stress and quiet your thoughts. There is no whispering or hypnosis, only calm, fact-filled storytelling to guide you into relaxation. Press play, settle in, and let the story of truck drivers carry you into restful sleep. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Truck Drivers, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Truck Drivers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch. I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause.

With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, where I help you learn a little and sleep a lot. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. And today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled, Truck Driver. A truck driver commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada, a truckie in Australia and New Zealand,

an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver or driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Singapore is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, which is commonly defined as a large goods vehicle, LGV, or heavy goods vehicle HGV, usually a semi-truck, box truck or dump truck. Truck drivers provide an essential service to industrialize societies by transporting finished goods and raw materials over land, typically to and from manufacturing plants, retail, and distribution centers.

Truck drivers are responsible for inspecting their vehicles for mechanical items or issues relating to safe operation. Others, such as driver sales workers, are also responsible for sales, completing additional services, such as cleaning, preparation, and entertaining, e.g. cooking, making hot drinks, and customer service. Truck drivers work closely with warehouse associates and warehouse workers who assist in loading and unloading shipments. There are three major types of truck driver employment. Owner operators, also known as OOs or Double Stuffs, are individuals who own the trucks they drive and can either lease their trucks by contract with a trekking company to haul freight for that company using their own. own trucks, or haul loads for multiple companies and are self-employed independent contractors.

Others also lease and make payments on trucks with the aim of purchasing them within two to five years. Company drivers are employees of a particular trucking company who drive trucks provided by their employer. Independent owner operators are those with the authority, to haul goods, who often drive their own trucks, possibly owning a small fleet, anywhere from one to ten, but occasionally as few as two or three. Owner operators, owner drivers, and company drivers can be in these categories. Auto haulers transport cars on specially built trailers and require specific skills to load and operate specialized trailers. Boat haulers move boats ranging in size from 10-foot-long bass boats

to full-sized yachts up to 60 feet long, using specialized low-boy trailers that can be set up for each size of boat. Boats wider than 8 feet 6 inches or 13 feet 6 inches require permits to move and are considered oversized loads. Dry van drivers haul the majority of goods over highways and large trailers. Contents may be perishable or non-perishable goods. Dry bulk pneumatic drivers haul bulk sand, salt and cement, among other things. They have specialized trailers, which enable them to use pressurized air to unload their products, commonly known among truckers as flowboys.

Flatbed drivers haul an assortment of large bulky items, such as tanks, steel pipes, or lumber. Drivers require the ability to balance the load correctly. LTL drivers, location to location, or less-than-truck load, generally refers to localized delivery jobs, where goods are delivered by the drivers at multiple locations, sometimes involving the pulling of double or triple trailer combinations. Refer drivers haul refrigerated, temperature sensitive, or frozen goods.

Local drivers work only within the limits of their local areas. These areas may include crossing state lines, but drivers usually return home daily. household good drivers or bedbuggers all personal effects for families moving from one home to another. Regional drivers may work over several states near their homes and may be away from home for short periods. Interstate drivers, otherwise known as over-the-road or long-haul drivers, often cover distances of thousands of miles and are away from home for days, weeks, or even months on end. For time-critical loads, companies may opt to employ team drivers

to cover more miles than a single driver. Oversized load drivers transport oversized loads that exceed standard regulations. Special permits are required to transport oversized shipments. Team drivers refer to pairs of drivers who take turns driving the same truck and shifts, sometimes spouses. for several people in different states who split up the hall, line hall, to avoid being away from home for long periods.

Tanker drivers, tank truck drivers, in truck driver slang, tanker yankers, tankies, all liquids such as gasoline, petrol, diesel fuel, milk, and crude oil, and dry bulk materials, such as plastics, sugar, flour, and, cement in tanks. Liquid tanker drivers need special driving skills due to the load balance changing from liquid movement. This is especially true for food-grade tankers, which do not contain any baffles and are a single compartment due to sanitation requirements. Fuel, oil, petroleum drivers require special certifications. Vocational drivers drive vocational trucks such as tow trucks, dump trucks, garbage trucks, or cement mixers.

Traged drivers move cargo containers, aka piggybacks, which are lifted on or off the chassis at special intermodal stations. Bull rack drivers haul livestock locally, regionally, or nationally. The term bulrack refers to double-deck trailers used strictly for hauling cattle. In Australia, drivers of trucks and truck trailer combinations with gross vehicle mass greater than 12 tons must rest for 15 minutes every 5.5 hours, 30 minutes every 8 hours, and 60 minutes every 11 hours, including driving and non-driving duties. In any seven-day period, drivers must spend 24 hours away from their vehicles. Truck drivers must complete a logbook documenting hours and kilometers spent driving.

In Canada, driver hours of service HOS regulations are enforced for drivers who operate a truck, tractor, trailer, or any combination of them that has a gross vehicle weight in excess of 4,500 or a bus that is designed and constructed to have a designated seating capacity of more than 24 persons, including the driver. However, there are two sets of hours of service rules, one for above 60th parallel north and one for below. Below latitude 60 degrees, drivers are limited to 14 hours on duty in any 24-hour period. These 14 hours include a maximum of 13 hours driving time. Rest periods are eight consecutive hours in a 24-hour period, as well as an additional two-hour period of rest that must be taken in blocks of no fewer than 30 minutes. The concept of cycles refers to the

total amount of time drivers can be on duty in a given period before they must take. take time off. Cycle 1 is 70 hours in a 7-day period, and cycle 2 is 120 hours in a 14-day period. Drivers using cycle 1 must take off 36 hours at the end of the cycle before being allowed to restart the cycle again. Cycle 2 is 72 hours off duty before being allowed to start again. Receipts for fuel, tolls, etc., must be retained as MTO officers can request them to further verify the accuracy of information contained in driver's logbooks during inspections. In the European Union, drivers' working hours are regulated by EU, number 561-2006, which entered into force on 11th of April 2007.

The non-stop driving time may not exceed four and a half hours. After four and a half hours of driving, drivers must take a break period of at least 45 minutes, which can be split into two breaks, the first being at least 15 minutes, and the second being at least 30 minutes. The daily driving time shall not exceed nine hours and may be extended to at most 10 hours,

no more than twice each week. The weekly driving time may not exceed 56 hours. In addition to this, a driver cannot exceed 90 hours driving in a fortnight. Within each 24-hour period after the end of the previous daily or weekly rest period, drivers must take a new daily rest period. An 11-hour or more daily rest is called, a regular daily rest period. Alternatively, drivers can split

regular daily rest period into two periods. The first period must be at least three hours of uninterrupted rest and can be taken at any time during the day. The second must be at least nine hours of uninterrupted rest for a total minimum rest of 12 hours. Drivers may reduce daily rest

periods to no fewer than nine continuous hours, but this can be done no more than three times between any two weekly rest periods. No compensation for the reduction is required. Daily rests between nine and eleven hours long are referred to as reduced daily rest periods. Daily rest may be taken in a vehicle as long as it has suitable sleeping facilities and is stationary. Multi-manning refers to at least two drivers driving the same vehicle during each period between two consecutive daily rests or between a daily rest and a weekly rest period. Another driver is optional for the first hour of multi-manning, but mandatory for the rest. remainder of the period. This allows for vehicles to depart from operating center and collect a

second driver along the way, provided this is done within an hour of the first driver starting work. Vehicles manned by two or more drivers are governed by the same rules as single manned vehicles apart from daily rest requirements. When vehicles are manned by two or more drivers, each driver must have a daily rest period of at least nine consecutive hours within the 30-hour period, starting at the end of the last daily or weekly rest period. Organizing driver's duties in such a fashion enables a crew's duties to be spread over 21 hours. The maximum driving time for a two-man crew taking advantage of this concession is 20 hours before a daily rest is required. Although, only if both drivers are entitled to drive 10 hours.

Under multi-manning, the second driver in a crew may not necessarily be the same driver from the duration of the first driver shift, but could be any number of drivers as long as the conditions are met. Whether second drivers could claim the multi-manning concession in these circumstances depends on their other duties.

On multi-manning operations, The first 45 minutes of a period of availability is considered a break, so long as the co-driver does no work. When drivers accompany vehicles transported by ferry or train, daily rest requirements are more flexible. A regular daily rest period may be interrupted no more than twice, but the total interruption must not exceed one hour in total. This allows for a vehicle to be driven onto a ferry and off again at the end of the crossing.

When the rest period is interrupted in this way, a total accumulated rest period must still be 11 hours. A bunk or cushette must be available during the rest period. A regular weekly rest period is a period of at least 45 consecutive hours. An actual working week starts at the end of a weekly rest period and finishes when another weekly rest period is commenced, which may mean that weekly rest is taken in the middle of a fixed Monday to Sunday week. This is perfectly acceptable as the working week is not required to be aligned with the fixed week defined in the rules, provided compliance of all relevant limits.

Alternatively, drivers can take a reduced weekly rest period of a minimum of 24 consecutive hours. If a reduction is taken, it must be compensated for by an equivalent period of rest taken in one block before the end of the third week, following the week in question. The compensating rest must be attached to a period of rest of at least nine hours, effectively either a weekly or daily rest period. For example, if a driver reduces a weekly rest period to 33 hours in week one, they must compensate by attaching a 12-hour period of rest to another rest period of at least nine hours before the end of week four.

This compensation cannot be taken in several smaller periods. A weekly rest period that falls in two weeks may be counted in either week, but not in both. However, a rest period of at least 69 hours in total may be counted as two back-to-back weekly rests, e.g. a 45-hour weekly rest followed by 24 hours, provided the driver does not exceed 144 hours work, either before or after the rest period in question. Where reduced weekly rest periods are taken away from base, these may be taken in a vehicle provided as a suitable sleeping facilities and a stationary.

Provided that road safety is not jeopardized and to enable a driver to reach a suitable stopping place, a departure from the EU rules may be permitted to the extent necessary to ensure the standard necessary to ensure the safety of persons, the vehicle, or its load. Drivers must note all reasons for doing so on the back of their tachograph record sheets, if using an analog tattrograph, or on a printout or temporary sheet, if using a digital tattrograph,

at the latest on reaching the suitable stopping place. Repeated and regular occurrences, however, might indicate to enforcement office, that employers were not in fact scheduling work to enable compliance with the applicable rules. Heavy work time requirements in New Zealand are a break of at least 30 minutes every 5.5 hours of work time, maximum cumulative work time of 13 hours, plus 2 times 30 minute breaks, and 1 cumulative workday before a 10-hour break is required, giving a total. of 24 hours. After 70 hours of accumulated work, a driver must have a break of at least 24 hours. If you are subject to the work time limits and are required to complete a logbook, you must record

all your work and rest times in a logbook approved by the transport agency. You can only maintain one logbook at a time. Emergency services drivers can exceed work hours when attending priority calls. In the United States, the hours of service, HOS, of commercial drivers, are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FM CSA. Commercial motor vehicle CMV drivers are limited to 11 cumulative hours driving in a 14-hour period, following a rest period of no fewer than 10 consecutive hours. Drivers employed by carriers in daily operation may not work more than 70 hours and continue driving within any period of eight consecutive days. Drivers must maintain a daily 24-hour logbook record

of duty status documenting all work and rest periods. The record of duty status must be kept current to the last change of duty status and records of the previous seven days retained by the driver in the truck and presented to law enforcement officials on demand. Electronic onboard recorders E-O-B-R can automatically record, among other things, the time the vehicle is in motion or stopped. An FM-C-S-A ruling mandated use of E-O-B-Rs, also known as electronic logging device, ELD, began on the 18th of December. 2017. The new mandate applies to all carriers, not under FM CSA exemptions. A shortage of truck

drivers has been reported in the United States. Retention rates are low. Truck drivers are paid according to many different methods. These include salary, hourly, and a number of methods, which can be broadly defined as piecework. Peacework methods may include both a base rate and additional pay. Base rates either compensate drivers by the mile or by the load. A company driver who makes a number of less-than-truck-load L-TL deliveries via a box truck or conventional tractor trailer may be paid an hourly wage, a certain amount per mile, per stop, aka drop or dock bump, or per piece delivered.

delivered, unloaded, or tailgated, i.e. move to the rear of the trailer. The main advantage of being paid by the mile may be that a driver is rewarded according to measurable accomplishment. The main disadvantage is that what a driver may accomplish is not so directly related to the effort, and perhaps especially the time required for completion. household good drivers deal with the most complexity, and thus are typically the highest paid, potentially making multiples of a scheduled freight hauler. Mileage calculations vary from carrier to carrier. Hub miles, or odometer miles, hub refers to hub a meter, a mechanical odometer mounted to an axle.

Pay the driver for every mile. Calculations are generally limited to no more than 3 to 5% above the estimates of mileage by the carrier before red flags appear. Depending on the carrier's financial compensation or how it rates the mileage estimation capabilities of the software used. One version of hub miles includes only those per carrier designated route, i.e. a set number of miles. Out-of-rout miles of any incentive are provided by the driver to the carrier for free. Many of the largest long-haul trucking companies in the United States pay their drivers according to short miles. Short miles are the absolute shortest distance between two or more zip codes, literally a straight line drawn across the map.

These short miles rarely reflect the actual miles required. to pick up and deliver freight, but they will be used to calculate driver earnings. Short miles are, on average, about 10% less than actual miles, but in some cases the difference can be as large as 50%. An extreme, but not unheard of example, would be a load that picked up in Brownsville, Texas, and delivered in Miami, Florida, a journey requiring a driver to travel 1,600 miles. The short routing, however, would measure the distance as only 750 miles, as if the truck could drive across the Gulf of Mexico.

Another extreme example would be a load that picked up in Buffalo, New York, and delivered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, not giving any consideration that three of America's great lakes lie between that load's origin and destination. Other obvious obstacles would be mountains and canyons. Truck prohibited routes sometimes create this same phenomenon, requiring drivers to drive several truck legal routes and approach a destination from behind, essentially driving a fish-hooked shape route, because the most direct route cannot accommodate heavy truck traffic. Some trucking companies have tried to alleviate these discrepancies by paying their drivers according

to practical miles. This occurs when dispatchers provide a route to follow and pay the driver accordingly based on the route. This is done to compensate drivers for the actual work done. These routes largely follow the interstate highway system, but sometimes require drivers to use state and U.S. highways and toll roads. Trekking companies practice this method to attract and retain veteran drivers. Household goods, H.H.G. Miles, from the Household goods mileage guide, aka Short Miles, was a first attempt at standardizing motor carrier freight rates for movers of household goods.

Some say at the behest of the Department of Defense, for moving soldiers around the country long a major source of steady and reliable revenue. Rand McNally, in conjunction with the precursor of the National Moving and Storage Association, developed the first guide published in 1936, at which point it contained only about 300 point-to-point milages. Today, the 19th version of the guide has grown to contain distances between more than 140,000 cities, zip codes, or highway junctions.

Percentage-based pay is a common pay structure for owner-operators signed on to haul freight for specific companies. In this type of pay structure, owner operators are paid a percentage of the gross load revenue. This percentage varies depending on the services provided by the company. For example, an owner-operator who receives 95% of the load revenue may only be provided with dispatch services, while an owner-operator who receives 65% of the load revenue may have a company provided trailer, insurance, or other benefits. In most cases, the owner-operator also receives 100% of the fuel surcharges.

While not common, company drivers can also be paid by percentage of the load. This is typically a percentage of revenue, the same as owner-operators, with some company drivers instead paid a percentage of the load profit. Companies such as Dupre Logistics, which traditionally paid by the mile, have switched to hourly wages. Regional and local drivers are usually paid by the hour. In 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, reported the average heavy and over-the-road truck driver hourly wage to be $21.74 per hour. The BLS reported in 2012 that the median hourly wage was $18.37 per hour.

In May 2013, the BLS reported a mean average hourly pay, ranging from $12 and $21,000. cents, the bottom 10%, to $28.66 per hour, top 10%. In March 2014, Payscale.com published that the entry-level truck driver range from $11.82 to $20.20.2 an hour, and the average hourly rate was reported as $15.53 an hour. Certain special industry driving jobs, such as oil field services like vacuum, dry bulk, and winch truck drivers, can receive a $22 or higher hourly wage. A December 2020 survey found the average truck driver in the United States works 70 to 80 hours per week and earns between 28 cents to 40 cents per mile. In Australia, heavy vehicle licenses are issued by the states but are a national standard. There are five classes of license required by drivers of heavy vehicles.

A light rigid, LR-class license covers a rigid vehicle with a gross vehicle mass, GVM, not more than eight tons, with a towed trailer not weighing more than 9 tons Gtm, gross trailer mass. Also, buses with a GVM up to 8 tons, which carry more than 12 adults, including the driver. A medium-rigid, MR-class license covers a rigid vehicle with two axles and a GVM of more than 8 tons, with a towed trailer not weighing more than 9 tons GTM. A heavy rigid HR class license covers a rigid vehicle with three or more axles with a towed trailer, not weighing more than 9 tons Gtm. Also articulated buses. A heavy combination H.C. class license covers semi-trailers, or rigid vehicles towing a trailer with a GTM of more than 9 tons.

A multi-combination MC class license covers multi-combination vehicle. like road trains and B double vehicles. A person must have a C-class car license for one year before they can apply for an L-R- or MR-class license and two years before they can apply for an HR. To upgrade to an H-C-class license, a person must have an MR- or H-R-class license for one year. To upgrade to an MC-class license,

a person must have an HR or HC class license for one year. Drivers licenses in Canada, including commercial vehicle licenses, are issued and regulated provincially. Regarding CDL's commercial driver's licenses, there is no standardization between provinces and territories. In the EU, one or more of the categories of large goods vehicles, LGV licenses, is required. is required. The United States employees the truck classification system, and truck drivers are required to have a commercial driver's license to operate a CMV,

with a gross vehicle weight rating exceeding 26,000 pounds.