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Trucking with Sleep Apnea

With a truck driving job it is imperative that you sat awake and alert while behind the wheel. Sometimes this is easier said than done, especially when you are on a long expanse of highway with nothing around you but golden fields and blue skies with the warm sunlight gently shining through your windows…  But of you aren’t careful, SLAM! You will be woken up in a very unpleasant way.

As previously stated, it is imperative to be alert while driving behind the wheel. However, it’s a simple fact of life that we all have days that we are just tired and everything seems to drag, but what if those days come one right after another? Have you ever considered that your constant drowsiness might be a medical condition?  If you are tired day after day you might have the condition known as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a serious condition that causes pauses in breathing during sleep, and takes away the good, quality sleep needed to be fully alert during the rest of the day.

Sleep apnea often goes unrecognized and untreated and is more prevalent than you may think, even in the truck driving industry. Sleep apnea in truck drivers is serious and dangerous. It can cause drivers to fall asleep at the wheel and also increase the risk of a heart attack.

Some signs of sleep apnea are snoring, gasping or choking while sleeping, concentration and memory problems, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Truck drivers who have these or other symptoms should notify their doctor immediately. If you do have sleep apnea, there are things you can do to improve your sleep and reduce or eliminate your symptoms.

One of the things you can do is take a look at your lifestyle. Is there anything you think of that might inhibit your ability to sleep? If you are overweight, try exercising and eating a healthier diet to lose some weight, even moderate weight loss can improve sleep apnea. You may also want to try sleeping on your side or stomach or quitting smoking.

If a lifestyle change is not for you, or you believe it is not the cause of your loss of sleep, there are medical treatments available. One option is called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). CPAP involved wearing a mask over your nose while sleeping to ensure you are getting the pressure you need to breathe correctly during the night. There are also oral appliances to help position the jaw correctly.

The methods mentioned above are only a few ways to help you with your sleep apnea issues, but there are more. This is a very common condition and is prevalent in the trucking. In fact, according to a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration study, almost one-third of commercial drivers have some degree of sleep apnea.

It is important to know the signs of this condition and if you believe you may have sleep apnea take the proper steps to treat it before it is too late. A truck driving job can be risky enough with so many variables on the road, don’t make it worse by driving drowsy.

Over the Road?

In the trucking industry, there are plenty of truck driving options and with each option come different benefits. CR England has trucking choices such as Dedicated, Regional and Intermodal, each of which provide drivers with consistency and sometimes even increased home time. So, with all these other options some may ask, what is it that makes Over the Road trucking so great?

OTR actually has many benefits and is often times what people think of first when thinking of a truck driving job. With OTR, or national trucking, you are driving across the nation. You aren’t assigned to one small area like some other divisions of trucking. With OTR you can be in Massachusetts one week then Texas the next. Driving OTR with CR England means you can have a series of routes that cross through 48 states.

With routes like this, Over the Road trucking provides drivers with the opportunity to see more of the nation. The United States is a wondrous country in that so many states are different. Each state has its own unique landscape and culture and with an OTR truck driving job, you can see them all.

Another great aspect of OTR is the variety of the job. Routes for OTR drivers often change depending on demand. Along with route changes, national truck drivers also have changes in their cargo. It’s true that some truckers see this as a hassle, but there are plenty of others who really appreciate the opportunity to have a break from the same old thing.

National truck driving often allows drivers to be on the road for longer periods of time. This is because there are so many different national routes, the demand for drivers is high. And as every trucker knows; the more the wheels turn, the more money you make.

Over the Road truck driving is just one of many truck driving options available at CR England. To learn about England’s OTR trucking jobs or their dedicated division, visit the CR England website and get started on your truck driving career today.

Thinking about trucking?

The moment you decide you want to become a truck driver, you feel like you are immediately ready to get behind the wheel. However before you do that, there are some things you need to think about. You need to think about where you want to drive, do you want to drive for a company or do you want to be an Independent Contractor? One of the most important things to think about when looking for a truck driving job is what exactly are you looking for? What do you want out of your trucking job?

There are many aspects to a truck driving job. These aspects vary depending on experience, location, time and other variances. To help you decide which trucking job is the best for you, consider the following questions.

First, what type of driving do you want to do? Did you know that there are truck driving options other than over the road? If the thought of driving coast to coast doesn’t appeal to you then you might want to check into Regional or Intermodal driving.

Most trucking companies, CR England included, have many different truck driving opportunities in their Dedicated Division where you can find the truck driving job that would be perfect for you. If, however you want to travel the nation and see the states, an OTR truck driving job might be just what you are looking for. With England’s National division you can drive cost to cost and border to border.

Another thing to think about is home time. Do you have a family that you need to be home regularly for or are you free to be gone for longer periods of time? Most OTR truck driving jobs have drivers away frequently which works great for some people, but not for others. If you do need to be home more often, take a look at the Dedicated division where you might be able to find some trucking jobs with increased home time.

One of the last questions to consider is training. Do you have training? Training is an important aspect in any job, and trucking is no different. There are some trucking companies that require various periods of training and experience before they even look at you. If you’ve been driving for a while that’s great, but what if you are just getting into the industry? If this is your case then you would want to look at trucking companies that hire students. CR England has a program where student drivers can receive their training and even their CDL at one of England’s five Premier Truck Driving Schools.

If you’re not quite sure what you want out of your truck driving job yet, visit the CR England webpage and learn more about the various trucking jobs and trucking options they have available. There is plenty of opportunity out there, all you need to do now is go get it.

Freight Predicted to Slow

Fleetowner.com reported on October 14th, that statistics and forecasting shows that their will be a decline in freight shipments in the United States in the next few quarters. It’s not all doomsday, read the article:

“Freight may fall as economy stalls
Oct 14, 2010 11:25 AM, By Sean Kilcarr, senior editor
Recent data indicates freight shipments are in decline across the U.S. – signs of a broader “economic stall” that would limit gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the quarters ahead.

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI), which measures of the flow of goods to U.S. factories, retailers, and consumers, fell 0.5% in September after declining 1% in August. The decline indicates four consecutive months of limited to no increases in over-the-road movement of produce, raw materials, goods-in-process and finished goods since the PCI peaked in May 2010.
Moreover, Ed Leamer, chief PCI economist and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, says these PCI numbers indicate anemic growth in GDP for the third quarter of 0.7% to 1.7%. “It tells us that inventory is stalled on the nation’s thoroughfares,” he added. “Our economy’s loss in traction is alarming and … may foretell a coming decline in GDP and spike in unemployment.”
However, Leamer stressed that with residential investment, consumer durables, business spending, and other component indicators already at or near record lows relative to GDP, it remains unlikely that the U.S. would experience an outright decline back into recession.
“What’s clear from the PCI is that the economy has stalled,” Craig Manson, senior vp and index expert for Ceridian, told Fleet Owner. “Now it will be interesting to see where we go, because October is a key month for trucking.”
The sequential quarterly drop in the PCI is what concerns Leamer the most. He noted that the PCI began 2010 strongly with the first quarter 9.7% above the fourth quarter of 2009. However, the second quarter was only 6.2% above the first, and now the third quarter has increased a mere 2.1% above the second.
“In sum, over the course of the year, growth of the PCI has become less and less, edging toward zero,” he pointed out.
“Peak season demand trends diverged in September, with trends above-seasonal in rail and below- seasonal in truckload and airfreight,” noted Jon Langenfeld, transportation analyst with investment firm Robert W. Baird & Co., in the company’s most recent “Freight Flows” brief.
Langenfeld added that “diverging” freight trends highlight a “divided economy,” which is a function of exposure to different economic segments. Rail and LTL trends are influenced more by industrial/manufacturing activity, while truckload trends are more exposed to retail/consumer and inventory trends.
“We believe industrial trends can remain positive into 2011, given constructive outlooks provided by industrial-related manufacturers in recent weeks,” Langenfeld said. “On the other hand, though consumer deleveraging has been quicker to materialize than expected, debt levels remain well above historical norms; and inventory levels across the supply chain have largely normalized.”
Additionally, he pointed out that September’s truckload demand moderation limits upside expectation for third-quarter TL results, and if this trend continues could put pressure on the “consensus expectations” for the TL sector next year.
Other economic indicators are none too rosy, either. The Conference Board noted that its Employment Trends Index (ETI) declined moderately in September to stand at 97.0, down from August’s revised figure of 97.3. The index is up 9.3% from a year ago, but up just 0.6% from April, said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research for the group.
“While continued slow job growth remains the most likely scenario over the next several months, the ETI suggests that the likelihood of another episode of job losses is increasing,” Levanon added. “As employment lags changes in the economy, and with GDP growth forecasted to slow even further in early 2011, we may see negative job numbers next year.”
Still, despite the poor showing of these various metrics, Ceridian’s Manson stressed that there are still some positive factors to consider.
“The ray of hope is that year-over-year – from September 2009 to September 2010 – the PCI is up 5.8%, representing the tenth straight month of growth,” he pointed out. “Yet year-over-year growth has continued to fall since May’s exceptional 9% number to 5.8% in September – and PCI results need to reach 10% to 15% year-over-year growth for a healthy job market. So though we remain in recovery, the tepid growth says our economy lacks the energy to drive employment in the near term.”

http://fleetowner.com/management/news/freight-may-fall-stalled-economy-1014/

Truck Driving Jobs Increasing in 2010

Great news for the Trucking Industry!  According to Transport Topics Article, “Unemployment Rate Holds at 9.5%;  “Trucking Jobs Increase” from 8/12/10, the trucking industry is employing 6,000 more drivers than last month.  This is the third month of growth in the last four months.

This is great news for those in the trucking industry who are wanting a stable job.  The statistics shown in the Transport Topics Article states:

“Trucking added 5,900 jobs last month, bringing the total to 1.24 million jobs. The trucking industry’s payrolls rose 5.9% from July 2009, Labor figures showed.

Overall, the economy lost 131,000 jobs, led by a cut of 143,000 temporary federal census jobs that ended. Private employers added 71,000 jobs, following a 31,000 gain in June.”

The transportation  industry is showing a lot of promise. Everyone from mechanics to freight brokers are all seeing positive signals.

Truckinginfo.com wrote a similar article expressing excitement about more Truck Driving Jobs in the last four months.  Bob Costello, the chief economist of American Trucking Assoc. stated: “To be sure, this rate of growth is not as fast as one would expect after such a sever recession, but it is evident that the private sector is adding to payrolls.”

It seems to me that now is the time to get into the truck driving business and make the money and have the stability that most Americans are looking for right now.

There are a couple of very large Trucking Companies that actually hire those who are accepted into their truck driving schools.  And since the companies train, they make sure their curriculums are focused on safety and success in driving.

Go online and research Trucking Companies and look for those that guarantee a job to those accepted into their truck driving schools.

Visit these sites for the full and complete articles.

http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=24937

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=71283