New Driver Anxiety: How to Navigate Delays & Disruptions
You’ve come a long way. You’ve secured your CDL, nailed your interview, finished all the required training and mentoring, and are now set for your first haul. It’s an exciting time, but with that excitement comes some “new driver” anxiety. You want everything to go well but understand that delays and disruptions can happen. So, what can you do to mitigate the impact of potential delays?
First, accept that making mistakes is part of learning and improving. Nobody who has ever become great at something attained that greatness without making mistakes.
Second, being anxious and nervous is normal. It means you want to do the job right.
Finally, understand that there are things you can control and things that you can’t. This guide is structured around the things that you can control.
Plan Your Trip
The first and most important part of OTR trucking is planning your trip. Here are some tips:
- Plan how long you’ll drive each day, when and where you’ll stop, and for how long.
- Review the route and identify current construction areas. For heavy construction areas, focus on alternative routes.
- Identify high-traffic areas. At what time is traffic at its peak? Are there any alternative routes to avoid that traffic?
- Look at the weather forecast and see if an alternative route allows you to save time from an upcoming storm.
- Instead of relying on Google Maps, use long-haul-focused apps like TruckMap, Trucker Path, Route4Me, or MyWay. All of these apps provide real-time feedback on alternative routes, current weather, and traffic delays.
Leave Earlier Than You Think
It is much better to leave an hour or two early than to be an hour or two late. Hitting the road earlier puts you in more control of your route. Once you start to realize you’re way ahead of schedule, that anxiety and nervousness will quickly subside.
If you think you should leave an hour earlier, make it an hour and a half, and if you think you should leave an hour and a half earlier, make it two hours. Add a buffer to your worst-case scenario for leaving, and you’ll find your first haul a more enjoyable and less stressful experience.
Drive During Off-Peak Hours When You Can
Try to increase your off-peak driving hours when possible and only if your employer allows it. Identify the main cities you’ll have no choice but to drive through. Will you have to drive through these cities during rush hour, and if so, what can you do to avoid that early morning and late afternoon traffic?
Simple adjustments in your driving schedule might allow you to avoid certain hours of traffic, so think of different solutions ahead of time.
Communicate With Dispatch
Get used to dispatch being your best friend when encountering delays, road closures, bad accidents, and extreme weather. Dispatch is an invaluable resource that can help you understand your all-important next steps.
Keeping dispatch aware of problems allows them to notify customers of a potential delay while providing you with possible solutions. It also helps to alleviate any anxiety you may feel about encountering delays. Instead of internalizing delays, dispatch will more than likely explain how common these delays are, helping you relax and become focused on solving problems rather than worrying about them.
Stay Calm on the Road
Anger and frustration are emotions people encounter when they are no longer in control of an outcome. It’s that lack of control that causes angry outbursts and frustration.
If you encounter a delay, focus on remaining calm. Is the delay you’re facing something you really could have controlled? An accident, road closure, or unaccounted-for extreme weather event is an “act of God.” They happen, and they have nothing to do with you. What you can control is how you react to these situations.
Once you accept that your actions are not causing the problem you’re facing, you can start to develop a potential solution.
Remain calm, always focus on defensive driving when encountering extreme weather, and accept that there are guaranteed to be situations entirely out of your control.
Get More Tips From TSI
TSI has been the go-to logistics solution for companies throughout North America for over 40 years. We’re proud to be an employee-focused company committed to providing the best opportunities for our committed long-haul truckers.
If you’re considering becoming a long-haul trucker, you can learn everything you need to know through our six-week new driver program. This comprehensive training program features three days of in-classroom training and several weeks of real, on-the-road experience. When you sign up for our program, you’ll learn invaluable tools and tips on trip planning and handling common OTR challenges.
Visit our website to learn more about our program, or check out our blog for more professional tips and advice.
