I do ensure to have my mirrors + seat setup as best as possible (*well as ultra low as possible for the seat!);
But it’s more just a case of being ultra concious & vigilant (like I was taught during my Class 1 training) to check your mirrors every 10-20 seconds whilst driving a lorry! (But ofcourse that does become very mentally-tiring / Not to mention causes neck-ache eventually too)
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But yes, hopefully within the coming weeks (*potentially months) I will start finding the ‘‘action’’ of driving a HGV lorry easier + enjoyable :: Rather than simply extremely stressful + pyschologically draining & daunting!
I do get that ultimately this is ‘‘a job’’, and so it’s not exactly gonna be a pleasure-holiday… ect
However I was *(plus techically still am) in quite a fortunate position in my life, where I’ve gotten (worked) myself to a position where I no longer actually really need to ‘‘work to be able to afford my bills’’… ect
Instead I can simply work by/for choice, doing a job-role which I would find more enjoyable vs just relaxing at home all day.
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But so therefore don’t particularly wanna be feeling extreme anxiety & pyschological-stress about doing a job :: When I could instead just be earning the same £££ money working a cushy stress-free job (such as a night security-guard in office / watching movies on my laptop for 12-hours, whilst getting paid).
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I do have an actual genuine passion for ‘‘driving’’ though | So hopefully I will start enjoying driving HGV lorries within the coming weeks.
Take the positives. If you are a driver you can get your music, podcasts or whatever on.
My take on the whole mirrors aspect is generally that in the real-world, it is as and when required, which you will instinctively learn without even realising it. For example on a winding country road you should know if there is someone behind you and how close they are. Once you know this, you just monitor it. No need to constantly check. On the motorway occasional glances to see what is coming past you and to be honest not looking at the nearside mirror very often, unless there is joining traffic.
mirror usage is relative. driving round a busy town with pedestrians etc etc you obviously need to be on the mirrors a lot more than on the motorway where you might only check them at joining slip roads and the occasional glance to see whats overtaking etc. I appreciate you feel you need to use them to check your positioning but i assume you don’t feel the need to check your position in your car.
you will develop an awareness of what is going on round you
" I still (even 5-weeks on) feel extremely anxious & nervous about physically driving the lorry on roads"…try and discipline yourself to get on with it,and break the fear. Although 5 weeks is still early days to be apprehensive. For your own welfare and progress,just brave it an drive mellow. I have only been driving HGV-2 for 5 months,but driven buses for years.
I would expect things to get easier after 3 months and things will be a lot easier after 6 months
Are the office on the phone to you every 5 minutes or do they leave you alone for the day to work at your own pace? I’ve been driving HGVs for years but changed job last August and found the office were phoning every 5 minutes and would not leave drivers alone - It was the most stressful driving job I’ve had and it wasn’t even the driving side that was causing the issues. By November I had left, found another company and I’ve been happy as Larry since. The new company leave you alone and short of you running over an hour late, wont call ever. That phone-happy company would also take on new drivers, wouldn’t teach them how to use a tacho or reverse or anything and wondered why they had such a high accident rate, on the road and in their yard.
Has anyone actually shown you how to reverse the truck onto a bay (Without a camera)? If not, that could definitely be affecting confidence and anxiety.
There are advantages being an oldie, when I started if the boss wanted to talk to me he had to wait till I wanted another load, found 4 pennies and a red phone box first.
sorry if it’s been mentioned and I missed it… how about upgrading your automatic car driving licence to a manual one? should be easy enough, no theory, just book a test and get in some practice
The ‘‘nervousness + anxiety’’ that I had been feeling faded-away approx 2-weeks ago now. (So 6-weeks after I started the job)
*I personally only work 3-days per week, (with 2 of them being every Saturday & Sunday :: Where 95% of the day-duration is spent just sat at the depot, due to lack of work)| Thus I’m only actually spending 1-day per week ‘‘out on the road, driving around the country in a HGV lorry’’…
Hence why it may of taken me slightly longer to stop feeling so nervious vs Someone who’s driving a lorry 4-5 days in a row each week.
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Ultimately though I no longer would describe how I feel about driving a HGV as ‘‘anxious or nervous’’…
Instead it’s now more just a feeling of being ‘‘Concious & Aware of my lack of experience’’.
(So I wouldn’t for example attempt to slide through narrow gaps, which other more experienced HGV drivers would just do with ease… ect | But I do feel confident inside that I have the skill & capability to actually drive a HGV safely on all types of roads)
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I’m still not 100% sure if driving a HGV will be my long-term career (or if in the future I will change to a van-driver job);
But for now, the job-role I’ve got seems extremely good compared to 99% of what other 7.5t drivers have (3-4 deliveries per day max / 0% physical carrying / guaranteed 12-hour shifts) :: And so I’m not intending to quit this job.
Good… Glad it is starting to work out for you.
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Give it a couple more years and you’ll be back here telling us it is all too boring and you want to go driving in narrow lanes with bigger vehicles! How you`re getting lazy and need more exercise!
Just read the thread and think I’ve something similar coming my way.
To give myself a bit of confidence, I’ve cast my mind back to singing. I was always told that the lyrics have to be sung 80 times before they become embedded and you don’t have to look at a sheet with the words on.
Maybe this is true with driving? Climb in the cab and the keys just go in the ignition without thinking about it. Let’s hope so.
Never give up on thinking.
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OK, no sense of humour failure I hope, and I know the expression being used, but NO!
Never go onto instinct/memory/autopilot mode.
Even professional airline pilots, (and they are mostly a wee bit above truck drivers) use check lists and get all choices double checked.
Confidence will come with time, but don’t ever stop thinking.
Take confidence from having thought, not from having stopped thinking.
I think that depends a lot on what your idea of music and lyrics are
If you’re talking about, for example, “Baby” by Justin Beiber:
Oh-ooh-whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh (repeat x3) You know you love me (yo), I know you care (uh-huh) Just shout whenever (yo), and I’ll be there (uh-huh) You are my love (yo), you are my heart (uh-huh) And we will never, ever, ever be apart (yo, uh-huh)
I doubt very much that would take the same amount of time to memorise as, for example, Brianstorm by the Arctic Monkeys:
She’ll be saying, use me Show me the jacuzzi I imagine that it’s there, on a plate You’re whole rendezvous rate Means that you’ll never be frightened To make them wait for a while I doubt it’s your style Not to get what you set Out to acquire the eyes are on fire You are the unforecasted storm
Calm, collected and commanding (top marks for not trying) You leave the other stories standing With your renditions and jokes Bet there’s hundreds of blokes That have wept 'cause you’ve stolen their Thunder
Depends on the individual personality I guess, but I really like having a “process” for checking things that might bite me in the derriere if I get it wrong’. If you’re driving a truck with some regularity it should become just a normal daily routine,
If you know you’ve checked what you need to and its fine, you can relax into whatever it is you’re doing without too much anxiety - and lets be honest, a small amount of anxiety is normal and healthy, it’s better than complacency, but if it goes into overdrive it can be severely dangerous.
When I used to do mixed-gas technical diving I had a process that was every bit as serious as these NASA guys had - the last thing you need when you’re rooting around at 60-plus metres in the pitch black of a ship’s hold is anxiety, made 100 times worse by the effects of nitrogen narcosis.
I had one incident where I tried to breath in as I was descending and it seemed the tank valve was closed, but when I checked it, it was open, I knew the tank wasn’t empty, the gauge was reading “full”, I hadn’t skipped my checklist.
The nitrogen narcosis had kicked in - it’s like being instantly very drunk, simply from the effects of the pressurised gasses, the apparent lack of breathing gas resulted in an instant burst of anxiety. Then I realised I hadn’t exhaled from the previous in-breath, so obviously I couldn’t breath any more gas in…
My dive buddy assumed my laughing through the diving regulator was just the result of the narcosis alone (laughing or swearing, both easily done with scuba kit on) but if I hadn’t known I’d done all of my checks it could have been a bad day out.
Seriously though, I aint a touchy feely type guy by any stretch, so the fact is… SOME guys of a certain demeanour simply should NOT be going down the road in charge of 44 tonnes…end of.
Harsh but true.
Everybody new at this job is nervous at first… including me…especially me in fact.
But if it dont wear off and confidence does not naturally build up…the job aint for you,…and it’s no good metaphorically holding somebody’s hand and telling them different.
It wont end well !!
To be a good driver, a degree of healthy trepidation is a prerequisite. In part, I disagree with Frangers. Whilst readily admitting his advice is sound, there are some aspects that will become automatic, such as mirror and dash scan. You will not release that you’ve been doing them until a mirror is broken or a gauge is showing an abnormal reading.
Don’t focus on your inexperience or how much time the task is taking, just drive as you were taught. You are obviously capable, or you would not have passed the test, just aim to drive as you did on test. Speed and familiarity will come as you gain experience. Stop creating your own stress by worrying about the job. Above all, drive safely, it will become habitual. Every boss would prefer you to take a bit of extra time to damaging, or worse, the truck.
I cannot stress enough, stop worrying, just drive as you were taught, everything else will come naturally.
I agree we shouldn’t stress, and some things may become a habit, but I would never get in and drive a truck without a walkaround check.
Coffee stop, walk around when leaving and returning. A minute.
I think about what could be wrong. But I don’t get stressed about it.
For the first check of the day we had paper check lists, and as I ticked off the items, I thought about whether or not I really had checked each item.
Picking up or dropping trailers I always stopped for a second or two and just did a mental check list. I made a point to do that consciously, not on auto-pilot.
Generally it costs a few seconds to stop and think about anything you do and can save much, much, grief.
Ticking off a check list, mentally or on paper will reduce stress, as you will know you have done everything correctly
