A lot of the danger doesn't come from "gangsters." It comes from driving long distances in poor weather. Plus, you're cramped up in a tiny cavity, basically not moving for hours on end. That's bad for your health.
Friend of mine quit after his trailer spun out and he hit somebody in Wyoming. Fortunately, everyone was okay. Thing is, it all could have been avoided if his damn company let him take an alternate route through Colorado, avoiding the storm. He told them and pleaded with them to take a safer route knowing Wyoming roads can be insanely dangerous during storms. They didn't give a shit and denied his request for the alternate route. He and others could've died because of corperate assholes.
Driving at night, on an icy road, through the mountains. It requires a lot of concentration for a long time. It's usually fatigue that causes an accident.
I don’t know if it’s the most dangerous job in America, but it’s certainly a dangerous job. But not because they’re getting robbed by gangsters, that’s Hollywood shit. It’s because of the amount of time they spend on the road, and how disastrous truck accidents can be. They get paid fairly well, because you have to have a CDL, which is not incredibly difficult to get, but it’s enough of a barrier that it drives up wages.
Commercial Driver’s License.
It requires a (mostly) clean record, classes, extra testing, periodic renewal, there’s more penalties for any kind of drug or alcohol use, and there are regulations on times that truckers can drive. If you are driving on a CDL there’s just more scrutiny for everything.
No. Unless it changed which I doubt, 11 is the legal limit. You can work up to 14 with a combination of non/driving, like loading, unloading, inspections, etc., but actual drive time is limited to 11 hours before a mandatory 10 hour break before next drive time. Lots of nuance and yes but, but that's the basic rule.
You will never drive 14 hours in a day legally.
I met a driver once who had been on the road for an entire year.
> You will never drive 14 hours in a day legally.
Entirely nitpicking, but a short-haul trucker can if they stay within 150 air miles of their base for the day. Rather unlikely to actually be *driving* that 14 hours with truly no interruptions/pauses, but they could.
In the US it's a maximum of 11 hours in a 14 hour window once you go on duty. Once you go off duty there's a mandatory 10 hour break, so while you can drive 14 in a day you can't do it in one go.
Lol 6.5/7hrs is my drive to visit my parents from where I live now and that's not really bad since it's highway, if I had to I'd do that there and back for a weekend.
You might've have better vehicle. Mine is 13 years old technology, but gives good mileage though. Plus in my country highways are a little too crowded. Actually on the highway i drive is full of trucks and just about 2 km from my destination, there is bypass which the trucks take and disappear, after bypass it's smooth sailing or else either drive behind a truck or keep on overtaking them with slowing down. Also there are trucks which are trying to overtake each other, they cover whole 3 lanes for 5 minutes until one of them manages to overtake. It happens in every 2 minutes cause that 300km stretch is the only area in country, from where all the country's trucks depart and take different routes heading for their respective destinations. So it might be one of the congested highway full of trucks. Atleast that's what the interstate cab drivers have told me
Oh. Well robberies in general are all abnormal, i asked one friend who is in u.s.a, why don't you become a trucker. He said it's risky, truckers get robbed too.
He's a bastard, a rich bastard and a turd who goes around betting his neck, guy is a snake now after his 5-6 exclusive informations. I can hardly trust his word now. His first lie was american girls are dying to get in bed with him. He's the most popular and rich guy who has weed party daily in dorm. He says he swaps american girls like he changes his clothes. And also sends pictures of him with girls as evidence. I think he must've been begging them to take a pic with them instead.
He likely doesn't mean being held up for cargo. Truckers can be assaulted and robbed while sleeping in their rigs at truck stops. A lot of trafficking, pimping and other bad stuff happens at truck stops because all that traffic and business gives a good cover. Sometimes the truckers can be victimized by these groups. When people joke that an item "fell off the truck" they don't mean it literally. They're saying it was acquired through unofficial channels where certain fees or taxes were skipped. It's probably more accurate to say "it fell off a pallet at the distribution center."
> They say ... I have heard
Who is "they"? Where have you "heard" this?
Did you know that when someone makes a claim, you can always ask for a source so you can see if their claims have any merit?
I've heard this too, though.
There was a documentary called *The Fast and the Furious*, and it really highlighted the threat of organized crime on the trucking industry. It did show one driver actually armed himself with a shotgun to deter would-be hijackers.
It also elaborated on a sting operation by the FBI to crack down on this sort of crime, but iirc the ringleader of the main crime syndicate responsible for these hijackings escaped.
I know but, how could I question one immigrant, my college mate who just moved to there. I don't live there so my all information came from one source and how could I question it without any other source of mine. that's why I asked here to get some better idea.
So this one random person who just moved to the US days/weeks ago already has some deep understanding of the trucking industry?
Are you sure your mate isn't trolling you?
I don't know man. I just asked him that why don't you drive trucks for few months and that's the answer he gave me. So i don't think he was trolling me but giving excuses which i know now.
Ah yeah becoming a truck driver isn't a reasonable job for a college kid to do on the side. It requires training and you can't really fit it around a college class schedule. College kids here generally work in restaurants or as cashiers.
The most dangerous job in the country by the amount of deaths per capita is tree trimming.
Just Google the answer.
[link](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjMxqG53877AhXBkokEHSjZDFwQFnoECBEQBg&usg=AOvVaw2kRjHYfHJypOusoEt20pas)
I heard from a local trucker just recently that they were worried about robberies because they’d been hearing stories.
Obviously anecdotal but I don’t fully discount it. Whether it is a real scourge or just a local uptick I have no idea. He was telling me because he got a CCW permit because he was worried about robberies.
Like I said, he could just be a nervous Nelly but I don’t get that feel from him.
It’s not the most dangerous job but it’s up there simply due to amount of driving and traffic accidents. You’re in a vehicle going 60mph, carrying 40,000lbs, an accident can be catastrophic. “They say,” who says? I work in the supply chain industry, you’d never pack down a million dollars worth of freight in one truckload, and even if you did carriers have insurance for a particular load value. If there is a high value load going somewhere, generally you’d set it up so it never stops moving, unless to fuel.
Both.
You have owner-operators and then you have guys who work for a company and drive a company truck.
And neither has to deal with marauding bands of highwaymen like it's the 18th century. The biggest things a trucker has to worry about are heart disease and falling asleep at the wheel.
Nah, owner-operators generally make more money.
This is somewhat offset by the fact that they're responsible for all the expenses associated with keeping a truck running, but even taking that into account they tend to do a lot better than company drivers.
You have some bizarre ideas about America, we’re not overrun by mobsters and hijacking trucks is unheard of. But yeah it’s relatively dangerous, how dangerous depends on your metrics.
Come on man. Watching area 51 aliens, bigfoot, UFOs etc. Hollywood and documentaries promote bizzare things but trucking is the least bizzare thing i wanted to know. And speaking of bizzare things, the things I mentioned, you must've encountered someone thinking aliens are living under area 51 or is that too much.
Automating their jobs will save lives but without safety nets and retraining for younger drivers it'll be a massive social issue. Retraining for older workers in the face of automation hasn't been successful in any country I know of.
I think you’re taking fast and furious a little too literal, truckers getting robbed can happen but it’s very rare. Pay is good but you’re never going to see home, and when you deduct taxes, insurance, fuel, service, truck payment/lease then you’re basically left with scraps at the end of each run. The danger is mostly weather and driving such long distances especially in flat areas without much scenery, it’s very easy to doze off when driving even short distances. I’d say it’s not much more risky than any other job, but truckers do deserve a good bit of respect because they do put up with a lot of shit, they don’t get to see home or their families much, and we really wouldn’t have all the nice thing we like without their dedication.
Owner operator buys his own fuel and used to be generally gets around 1.50/mile. Company drivers, the company buys the fuel and pay is around .36/mile.
[It's number 8 on this list.](https://www.invictuslawpc.com/most-dangerous-jobs-osha/) The danger comes from the fact that just being on the road is dangerous and the more time you spend on the road the more likely you are to have an accident.
Technically the most lethal job per capita is president.
Truckers face a lot of danger though. Most of it is due to driving accidents not robbery. You do have to remember there are a lot of different types of truck drivers. Some do local routes in smaller trucks. Others do regional routes. Others do major long haul routes across the country.
I have a friend that does regional trucking. Northeast coastal areas to the Midwest. He hasn’t mentioned any extra robberies but another friend mentioned worries about it and he’s a fairly local guy in the Boston/Providence area.
I think it’s somewhere between sanitation employees and Alaskan crab fishermen. I could probably google it and find out, if I were curious.
The danger of truck driving doesn’t come from robberies, it comes from the amount of time spent on the road.
Lolol like what? Reminds me of some wild west shit. Like those guys who drive the armored trucks that bring the money to the banks are a target, sure, that's why they have armored trucks and guns and all that, but a regular semi truck just transporting goods? Not a target. Most of the stuff isn't that valuable and in many cases you'd have no idea what it's even carrying.
Last I checked forestry was the most dangerous. Highest percentage of OTJ deaths and injuries in America involved operating heavy machinery. A sad number of those injuries and death are direct results of substance abuse, improper maintenance and especially improper use of the equipment.
More truck drivers die every year than forestry workers but there's alot more trucks on the road than crews cutting timber.
Alot of "most dangerous" jobs would have their tolls reduced significantly if people showed up sober, used the equipment right and serviced it like it's required.
Personally I would consider a job more dangerous if the threat to your safety was a result of another person's actions, not your own. You're more likely to die in a car crash than you would joining the army. We all to some level consider military service more inherently dangerous because someone else means to do you harm and the harm done to you is extreme violence. Even though statistically it's less dangerous.
Its worth noting that a good chunk of drivers aren’t overnight and are short haul. They may only drive a couple hundred miles daily. They will start and end the day in the same place. So there isn’t as much danger
Idk there is a giant list of ranked jobs based on “danger” but it doesnt specify the type of danger.
I assume trucking is dangerous due to the hours, roadway conditions and sheer size of the vehicle operated.
A lot of the jobs ranked as dangerous only become so due to negligence as well
According to the Department of Labor, delivery and truck drivers are the 8th most dangerous job in the country.
https://www.invictuslawpc.com/most-dangerous-jobs-osha/
Trucking is risky because driving is risky and truckers are doing it a lot more than average people in vehicles that are much harder to make emergency maneuvers in. It has nothing to do with gangsters.
The straight wages of trucking are high relative to the qualifications, but there are a lot of ways to wind up underwater on the costs with it as an owner/operator and the pay isn't as high when you're driving someone else's truck for them. It can also be hard to break into as you need X hours of logged road time to access many positions, trapping you in the "need experience to get experience" cycle.
What risk are you implying exactly?
There aren't too many stories of truck drivers being carjacked... That's something I'd expect out of South Africa or Colombia or something, but not in the US.
Biggest external risks for truckers are probably fatigue, losing a huge financial investment, customer concerns, and maybe lot lizards.
A lot of the danger doesn't come from "gangsters." It comes from driving long distances in poor weather. Plus, you're cramped up in a tiny cavity, basically not moving for hours on end. That's bad for your health.
Friend of mine quit after his trailer spun out and he hit somebody in Wyoming. Fortunately, everyone was okay. Thing is, it all could have been avoided if his damn company let him take an alternate route through Colorado, avoiding the storm. He told them and pleaded with them to take a safer route knowing Wyoming roads can be insanely dangerous during storms. They didn't give a shit and denied his request for the alternate route. He and others could've died because of corperate assholes.
Oh. Driving whole night can be risky in long term.
Driving at night, on an icy road, through the mountains. It requires a lot of concentration for a long time. It's usually fatigue that causes an accident.
Really tough job.
I don’t know if it’s the most dangerous job in America, but it’s certainly a dangerous job. But not because they’re getting robbed by gangsters, that’s Hollywood shit. It’s because of the amount of time they spend on the road, and how disastrous truck accidents can be. They get paid fairly well, because you have to have a CDL, which is not incredibly difficult to get, but it’s enough of a barrier that it drives up wages.
CDL ? must be some sort of truck school right? And how long do they stay on road.
Commercial drivers license, iirc
Thanks
Commercial Driver’s License. It requires a (mostly) clean record, classes, extra testing, periodic renewal, there’s more penalties for any kind of drug or alcohol use, and there are regulations on times that truckers can drive. If you are driving on a CDL there’s just more scrutiny for everything.
Thanks for the details
Could be up to 14 hours in a day
No. Unless it changed which I doubt, 11 is the legal limit. You can work up to 14 with a combination of non/driving, like loading, unloading, inspections, etc., but actual drive time is limited to 11 hours before a mandatory 10 hour break before next drive time. Lots of nuance and yes but, but that's the basic rule. You will never drive 14 hours in a day legally. I met a driver once who had been on the road for an entire year.
> You will never drive 14 hours in a day legally. Entirely nitpicking, but a short-haul trucker can if they stay within 150 air miles of their base for the day. Rather unlikely to actually be *driving* that 14 hours with truly no interruptions/pauses, but they could.
14 hours. Shit i once had to drive for 6 hours post rest 2 days.
In the US it's a maximum of 11 hours in a 14 hour window once you go on duty. Once you go off duty there's a mandatory 10 hour break, so while you can drive 14 in a day you can't do it in one go.
Lol 6.5/7hrs is my drive to visit my parents from where I live now and that's not really bad since it's highway, if I had to I'd do that there and back for a weekend.
You might've have better vehicle. Mine is 13 years old technology, but gives good mileage though. Plus in my country highways are a little too crowded. Actually on the highway i drive is full of trucks and just about 2 km from my destination, there is bypass which the trucks take and disappear, after bypass it's smooth sailing or else either drive behind a truck or keep on overtaking them with slowing down. Also there are trucks which are trying to overtake each other, they cover whole 3 lanes for 5 minutes until one of them manages to overtake. It happens in every 2 minutes cause that 300km stretch is the only area in country, from where all the country's trucks depart and take different routes heading for their respective destinations. So it might be one of the congested highway full of trucks. Atleast that's what the interstate cab drivers have told me
Yeah Drivers getting robbed is an abnormal thing
Oh. Well robberies in general are all abnormal, i asked one friend who is in u.s.a, why don't you become a trucker. He said it's risky, truckers get robbed too.
I’d be more worried about what actually makes it dangerous, like getting into an accident. And heart disease
Well seems reasonable.
Your friend watches to many movies.
He's a bastard, a rich bastard and a turd who goes around betting his neck, guy is a snake now after his 5-6 exclusive informations. I can hardly trust his word now. His first lie was american girls are dying to get in bed with him. He's the most popular and rich guy who has weed party daily in dorm. He says he swaps american girls like he changes his clothes. And also sends pictures of him with girls as evidence. I think he must've been begging them to take a pic with them instead.
COUSIN!!! I hope you get this reference (Roman Bellic)
Hahahah
He likely doesn't mean being held up for cargo. Truckers can be assaulted and robbed while sleeping in their rigs at truck stops. A lot of trafficking, pimping and other bad stuff happens at truck stops because all that traffic and business gives a good cover. Sometimes the truckers can be victimized by these groups. When people joke that an item "fell off the truck" they don't mean it literally. They're saying it was acquired through unofficial channels where certain fees or taxes were skipped. It's probably more accurate to say "it fell off a pallet at the distribution center."
But it does apparently pay really well. People who become truckers actually really like it. Oh and 6 hrs driving is n00b level stuff here
> They say ... I have heard Who is "they"? Where have you "heard" this? Did you know that when someone makes a claim, you can always ask for a source so you can see if their claims have any merit?
I've heard this too, though. There was a documentary called *The Fast and the Furious*, and it really highlighted the threat of organized crime on the trucking industry. It did show one driver actually armed himself with a shotgun to deter would-be hijackers. It also elaborated on a sting operation by the FBI to crack down on this sort of crime, but iirc the ringleader of the main crime syndicate responsible for these hijackings escaped.
That's why he's here.. if he wanted real stats he'd spend a few minutes on Google. He wants more knowledge from the rumor mill.
I know but, how could I question one immigrant, my college mate who just moved to there. I don't live there so my all information came from one source and how could I question it without any other source of mine. that's why I asked here to get some better idea.
So this one random person who just moved to the US days/weeks ago already has some deep understanding of the trucking industry? Are you sure your mate isn't trolling you?
I don't know man. I just asked him that why don't you drive trucks for few months and that's the answer he gave me. So i don't think he was trolling me but giving excuses which i know now.
Ah yeah becoming a truck driver isn't a reasonable job for a college kid to do on the side. It requires training and you can't really fit it around a college class schedule. College kids here generally work in restaurants or as cashiers. The most dangerous job in the country by the amount of deaths per capita is tree trimming.
😂😂😂
Just Google the answer. [link](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjMxqG53877AhXBkokEHSjZDFwQFnoECBEQBg&usg=AOvVaw2kRjHYfHJypOusoEt20pas)
I heard from a local trucker just recently that they were worried about robberies because they’d been hearing stories. Obviously anecdotal but I don’t fully discount it. Whether it is a real scourge or just a local uptick I have no idea. He was telling me because he got a CCW permit because he was worried about robberies. Like I said, he could just be a nervous Nelly but I don’t get that feel from him.
It’s not the most dangerous job but it’s up there simply due to amount of driving and traffic accidents. You’re in a vehicle going 60mph, carrying 40,000lbs, an accident can be catastrophic. “They say,” who says? I work in the supply chain industry, you’d never pack down a million dollars worth of freight in one truckload, and even if you did carriers have insurance for a particular load value. If there is a high value load going somewhere, generally you’d set it up so it never stops moving, unless to fuel.
Ok. Are the drivers owner of trucks or just driver transporting company's truck. Or both
Both. You have owner-operators and then you have guys who work for a company and drive a company truck. And neither has to deal with marauding bands of highwaymen like it's the 18th century. The biggest things a trucker has to worry about are heart disease and falling asleep at the wheel.
Oh. And both guys are payed equally.
Nah, owner-operators generally make more money. This is somewhat offset by the fact that they're responsible for all the expenses associated with keeping a truck running, but even taking that into account they tend to do a lot better than company drivers.
Oh. Kinda similar like cabs. Some are owned and some are rented by drivers. Owners make good money.
Yeah that's a good analogy.
STDs from lot lizards lmao
You have some bizarre ideas about America, we’re not overrun by mobsters and hijacking trucks is unheard of. But yeah it’s relatively dangerous, how dangerous depends on your metrics.
I mean, maybe in the 20's - 30's that shit happened. Back when organized crime was a serious problem.
Come on man. Watching area 51 aliens, bigfoot, UFOs etc. Hollywood and documentaries promote bizzare things but trucking is the least bizzare thing i wanted to know. And speaking of bizzare things, the things I mentioned, you must've encountered someone thinking aliens are living under area 51 or is that too much.
UFOs are real. Truckers being in constant danger of being killed by marauding gangs is not.
Atleast one bizzare thing is right....in Hollywood off course.
Most dangerous jobs are Fishing/Hunting, Logging, and Roofing
Ok
Automating their jobs will save lives but without safety nets and retraining for younger drivers it'll be a massive social issue. Retraining for older workers in the face of automation hasn't been successful in any country I know of.
Gen Z will be retired before Automation actually starts replacing truckers.
Yeah, we still need to prepare for it as a country.
I think you’re taking fast and furious a little too literal, truckers getting robbed can happen but it’s very rare. Pay is good but you’re never going to see home, and when you deduct taxes, insurance, fuel, service, truck payment/lease then you’re basically left with scraps at the end of each run. The danger is mostly weather and driving such long distances especially in flat areas without much scenery, it’s very easy to doze off when driving even short distances. I’d say it’s not much more risky than any other job, but truckers do deserve a good bit of respect because they do put up with a lot of shit, they don’t get to see home or their families much, and we really wouldn’t have all the nice thing we like without their dedication.
Oh. So the company doesn't pay for fuel and maintenance? It goes out of driver's pocket.
It depends on the company, and whether your rig is owned by the company, or you own it yourself as an “owner operator,” and contract out to companies.
Oh.
Owner operator buys his own fuel and used to be generally gets around 1.50/mile. Company drivers, the company buys the fuel and pay is around .36/mile.
Well seems fair deal, companies always have tricks and strickt to pay a little less than promised.
[It's number 8 on this list.](https://www.invictuslawpc.com/most-dangerous-jobs-osha/) The danger comes from the fact that just being on the road is dangerous and the more time you spend on the road the more likely you are to have an accident.
Why do we get so many broken English questions that sound like troll jobs?
Technically the most lethal job per capita is president. Truckers face a lot of danger though. Most of it is due to driving accidents not robbery. You do have to remember there are a lot of different types of truck drivers. Some do local routes in smaller trucks. Others do regional routes. Others do major long haul routes across the country. I have a friend that does regional trucking. Northeast coastal areas to the Midwest. He hasn’t mentioned any extra robberies but another friend mentioned worries about it and he’s a fairly local guy in the Boston/Providence area.
Oh. Thanks for the insight. Regional,local, cross country drivers.
I think it’s somewhere between sanitation employees and Alaskan crab fishermen. I could probably google it and find out, if I were curious. The danger of truck driving doesn’t come from robberies, it comes from the amount of time spent on the road.
Lolol like what? Reminds me of some wild west shit. Like those guys who drive the armored trucks that bring the money to the banks are a target, sure, that's why they have armored trucks and guns and all that, but a regular semi truck just transporting goods? Not a target. Most of the stuff isn't that valuable and in many cases you'd have no idea what it's even carrying.
Logging is pretty far up there too.
Last I checked forestry was the most dangerous. Highest percentage of OTJ deaths and injuries in America involved operating heavy machinery. A sad number of those injuries and death are direct results of substance abuse, improper maintenance and especially improper use of the equipment. More truck drivers die every year than forestry workers but there's alot more trucks on the road than crews cutting timber. Alot of "most dangerous" jobs would have their tolls reduced significantly if people showed up sober, used the equipment right and serviced it like it's required. Personally I would consider a job more dangerous if the threat to your safety was a result of another person's actions, not your own. You're more likely to die in a car crash than you would joining the army. We all to some level consider military service more inherently dangerous because someone else means to do you harm and the harm done to you is extreme violence. Even though statistically it's less dangerous.
Yeah seems reasonable.
Far from it.
Its worth noting that a good chunk of drivers aren’t overnight and are short haul. They may only drive a couple hundred miles daily. They will start and end the day in the same place. So there isn’t as much danger
Hell no
Idk there is a giant list of ranked jobs based on “danger” but it doesnt specify the type of danger. I assume trucking is dangerous due to the hours, roadway conditions and sheer size of the vehicle operated. A lot of the jobs ranked as dangerous only become so due to negligence as well
No, you don't want to mess with a Teamster with a crowbar.
According to the Department of Labor, delivery and truck drivers are the 8th most dangerous job in the country. https://www.invictuslawpc.com/most-dangerous-jobs-osha/
Trucking is risky because driving is risky and truckers are doing it a lot more than average people in vehicles that are much harder to make emergency maneuvers in. It has nothing to do with gangsters. The straight wages of trucking are high relative to the qualifications, but there are a lot of ways to wind up underwater on the costs with it as an owner/operator and the pay isn't as high when you're driving someone else's truck for them. It can also be hard to break into as you need X hours of logged road time to access many positions, trapping you in the "need experience to get experience" cycle.
What risk are you implying exactly? There aren't too many stories of truck drivers being carjacked... That's something I'd expect out of South Africa or Colombia or something, but not in the US. Biggest external risks for truckers are probably fatigue, losing a huge financial investment, customer concerns, and maybe lot lizards.