9 Common Truck Driver Mistakes (and How to Overcome Them)

Maybe you’ve run over your Hours of Service, gotten stuck in terrible traffic because you didn’t trip plan or spent half your paychecks out on the road buying food at truck stops. Without anyone showing you the tips and tricks to help you succeed, how are you to know any better? 

Without a guide, you’re going to make mistakes. You can either learn from those mistakes or you can keep making them until you’re so frustrated with the trucking industry that you quit altogether. 

As part of an experienced team of driver managers with Anderson Trucking Service (ATS), I’ve seen drivers make the same mistakes time and time again. I’m here to help you avoid the costly mistakes that can get you into an accident, get you fined or get you fired. 

By the time you finish reading, you’ll have a great understanding of how you can avoid common truck driver mishaps and succeed as an over-the-road (OTR) truck driver. 

Driver Mistake #1: You don’t prioritize safety 

Safety should always be a priority — whether that means going a few miles per hour under the speed limit or getting off the road when weather conditions call for it. 

Moving violations and preventable accidents can get you fined or get you fired. Going too fast is not worth the consequences. It may cost you a job at a future carrier, too.  

The motoring public isn’t always safe, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to be. You have to work that much harder to prevent accidents. Sometimes that means driving a little slower and trying to anticipate accidents. Follow the rules of the law. The faster you go, the faster you get there is simply not true. Stay safe so you can get home to your family. 

Driver Mistake #2: You don’t secure your loads

Failing to secure your loads properly is a major safety issue. If you don’t secure your loads, you can get into major accidents that not only damage the freight but your equipment and even you and other motorists. 

Instead of worrying about whether freight is secured, a successful driver will call their dispatcher or the safety team to talk it through. They’ll send pictures before and after they’ve secured the load to ask for guidance. Their dispatcher or the safety team will tell them exactly where they need straps and chains and they will go through the whole process together.

As driver managers, we’d rather you send us 30 pictures than go down the road with a load that isn’t properly secured. 

Never be afraid to talk to someone about securing your loads. You should never drive off a customer’s site with a load you don’t feel good about.

A successful driver will also make sure they stop after the first fifty miles to check their securement, and then after another 150 miles and then every subsequent stop after.

Driver Mistake #3: You don’t utilize your Hours of Service 

A driver who is the most successful is a driver who is working full days. A driver working only three or four hours each day will not find success. They may not deliver their loads on time and they’ll notice a direct impact on their income. 

A successful driver is a driver who knows their Hours of Service (HOS) inside and out.  Drivers can drive eleven hours each day. A successful driver will drive nine to ten hours per day and use the remainder of their clock time for doing inspections or completing logs. 

You will find yourself struggling if you don’t monitor your HOS very closely throughout the day. If you don’t start looking for parking until you have 10 minutes left on your clock, it’s very likely that you’ll end up with a clock violation. Clock violations — if you have enough of them — can result in punishments ranging from warnings to termination. 

If the Department of Transportation (DOT) catches you driving outside your HOS, you can be placed out of service and forced to do a reset. You may also receive a penalty or fine on the spot.

Hours of Service are in place to keep you and the motoring public safe by encouraging drivers to be well-rested; violating them puts everyone at risk.

Use your hours wisely. Plan maintenance when you are down, not when you could be driving. Don’t waste precious time driving out of route looking for parking, when you could instead trip plan and plan where you’ll stop for the night ahead of time. 

Driver Mistake #4: You aren’t trip planning 

Trip planning goes hand-in-hand with being mindful of your Hours of Service. A successful driver is one who spends their nights or morning trip planning. An unsuccessful truck driver is one who never trip plans. 

Failing to trip plan can result in numerous unwanted scenarios. If you don’t check the map to see where you’re going, you might fail to see that there’s road construction, road closures or roads that trucks cannot drive on. This will result in a driver having to go out of their way and drive excess miles. That translates to extra fuel costs and extra money out of your pocket. It also results in more wear and tear on your truck. 

You can also get caught in traffic that takes you outside your HOS or gets you stuck in bad weather. You may end up stuck in traffic for four hours instead of delivering to a customer on time. If you had planned, you could’ve been halfway across the next state and well on your way to delivering on time. 

If you don’t plan where you’ll stop and park for the night, you could also end up driving miles and miles out of route to find a spot. And, you might have to pay for the spot too. 

You should spend 15 minutes at night or in the morning before you start driving to take the time to trip plan. Plan your routes and determine alternate routes. Plan where you will stop for your 30-minute break and where you will park for the night. You’ll save yourself time, money and a headache. 

Trip planning might mean you have to start at three or four in the morning and park early in the afternoon, but sometimes that is the most efficient way to drive certain routes in order to avoid rush hour traffic.

Trip planning will also make you less stressed. A less stressed driver is a safer driver. 

Driver Mistake #5: You don’t save your money 

Are you the driver with the tricked-out, brand-new truck? Or are you driving reliable equipment that works and you’re sending the rest of your money home to your family? 

We have seen drivers get in trouble with money time and time again by spending it on meals on the road, hotels and tricking out their trucks. 

Remember why you are out on the road. Many drivers we work with are working to help support their families. If you’re spending all your money out on the road, you can’t support them. 

Pay your bills first, set aside money for maintenance and a rainy day and then allow yourself to trick out your truck and go out for a nice meal. After all, you never know when you’re going to need a brand-new set of 18 tires.

The most successful drivers are the ones who are maximizing their income by avoiding idle time, taking care of preventative maintenance, staying out on the road longer to get into good freight lanes and cooking on the road instead of eating out every night.

You should also be aware of what’s in your settlement checks each week. There are several pages of paperwork, but do you know what everything means? Talk to your dispatcher or someone in accounting to ensure you know where your money is going. 

And be sure you limit your advances. Taking too many advances is a surefire way to ensure you have very small paychecks in the coming weeks.

Driver Mistake #6: You don’t do DOT-regulated inspections 

You should do your pre-trip inspection in the morning to ensure no one touched your cargo, your load is secured and your truck is safe to drive for the day. You should do your post-trip inspections to ensure you are safe to drive the next day. 

While both of these inspections are mandated by the DOT, there are still some drivers who try to get away without doing them. 

You should be thorough in your inspections; don’t cut corners. Doing so could result in costly accidents that leave you broken down on the side of the road, or worse, getting into an accident and hurting another motorist. 

Getting caught failing to do a trip inspection by the DOT will result in a violation that goes against your safety record and can get you in trouble with your carrier.

Driver Mistake #7: You aren’t professional 

How do you want to be perceived as a truck driver? 

How you behave when you are with shippers and customers is a direct reflection either on your carrier or on you and your business if you are an independent contractor or owner-operator. 

If you are disrespectful and act like a hothead, customers may request that you don’t deliver freight for them anymore. That can get you in trouble with your trucking carrier and it doesn’t reflect well on you. You should behave like a professional running your own smooth business operation.

Driver Mistake #8: You don’t communicate with your dispatcher

Communication is number one. Your freight manager is ultimately there to help you succeed, but they can’t help you if you don’t communicate with them. 

Your dispatcher can help you solve a lot of issues; you simply have to ask. 

If you’re running early or late, pull into a safe location and call your dispatcher. They can talk to the customer to see if you can offload early or if it’s okay to deliver late. 

Failing to communicate with your dispatcher can cause you a lot of harm in the long run. Many drivers say the top reason they’re unhappy at their current company is because they don’t get along with their dispatcher.

Establishing an open, honest and trusting relationship is the key to finding success with your dispatcher and in your career.

Driver Mistake #9: You don’t do your homework 

Being a truck driver requires a lot of homework. Not only should you be researching the carrier and reading reviews before you start driving for a carrier to see if their expectations align with yours, but you should be doing your homework as a driver. 

Keeping up on the cost of freight, including understanding how rates fluctuate, can help you out significantly. For instance, knowing that freight is slower in the winter can help you make a plan to run harder in the summer months and save up money to make up for those slow months. 

You should also get to know your customers and the freight lanes. It will make your job a whole lot easier. You will learn which freight comes out of which areas and how you can choose your freight accordingly to maximize your time and your income.

You should always ask your dispatcher questions about why they are sending you freight options, from why they’re sending you to that area to whether or not they have a load to get you out of that area and if that load will still get you home on time. 

At the end of the day, you are responsible for running the freight, and you need to take on that responsibility by learning everything you can about it. 

Keep On Trucking!

You can keep making the same trucking mistakes over and over again, or you can use these tips to maximize your income and feel good about your career path. 

Are you ready to succeed as an OTR truck driver?

Are you ready to take charge of your career?

Are you going to trip plan, do your inspections and take care of your homework?

We sure hope so. 

If you’re looking for more resources to help you succeed as a driver you can check out these articles: 

• 9 Tips to Increase Truck Driver Salary
• Why You Shouldn’t Job-Hop as a Truck Driver
• 4 Key Considerations When Switching Trucking Companies