Fleet Speak

Working odd hours, sleeping in uncomfortable surroundings, being away from home for weeks at a time. Driving a truck can be stressful. Add to that being stuck in traffic, dealing with other careless road users, poor wages, and regularly being ignored or shouted at – it’s not hard to see why truck driver stress and depression is a big thing right now. However, there are a number of things that truck drivers can do to banish anxiety while driving.  Here are five ways to reduce truck driver stress and get you on the road to stress-free living (and driving)… 1 Work out what makes you tick The first step in managing stress is greater self-awareness of what causes these feelings of anxiety and stress in the first place. Identifying the triggers and then knowing what steps to take to manage those emotions takes time, but can be invaluable in the long run. If you can spot the symptoms of stress before they get out of control, you’ll always be one step ahead. 2 Learn to be a...

In general, truck drivers earn between £23,000 and £40,000 per year in the UK with the average being between £25,000 and £30,000. This is roughly the same in Belgium and the Netherlands.  There are a few factors that influence a lorry driver’s salary. The first is your driving license. The general rule is that the bigger the truck you can drive, the more you’ll earn. So try to get all of your licenses to maximise your earning potential. The second factor that has an impact on your salary is your type of load. If you carry hazardous goods, a cargo that requires more work than usual or a particular type of qualification or specialist experience, this will all make a difference when it comes to how much you can ask. Specialising in difficult loads can make you earn well above £40,000. A third factor is a location of where you’re employed. For example, drivers in Felixstowe and Manchester earn on average nearly £10,000 more than a driver in Ipswich or Leicester. If you’r...

Just like any industry, trucking has a diverse workforce. Truck drivers come from a variety of backgrounds, educations and ethnicities and are a mix of ages, genders and personalities. So, why are truckers stereotyped so freely? Over the past 20 years, the image of the trucker has deteriorated. Gone are the days when truck drivers were considered the kings of the road. These days, the truckers’ image has taken a nosedive. It could be down to the media’s portrayal of truckers as the bad guys. Or perhaps, it’s the result of a deregulated industry that’s seen a flood of more inexperienced drivers take to the roads. Whatever the cause, trucker stereotypes can be cruel and need to stop. Here are four stereotypes we could really do without. 1 Overweight and unkempt Plenty of people think all truckers are overweight and dirty. They imagine cabs full of litter, drivers who never wash and diets of non-stop junk food. This might be true for some, but it’s certainly not the norm...

The shift towards autonomous vehicles shows no sign of slowing. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this year, Daimler Trucks announced it was adding a hands- and foot-free driving capability to the latest version of its Freightliner Cascadia truck. What’s more, the company plans to invest $570 million to develop fully-autonomous trucks over the next ten years. Daimler’s Freightliner is the best-selling truck in the US, and these new features would meet the auto industry’s definition of level 2 autonomy (i.e. the driver can use automated features, but is still able to fully control the vehicle when required). Speaking about this, Martin Daum, Daimler Trucks CEO said:  “Highly automated trucks will improve safety, boost the performance of logistics and offer a great value proposition to our customers – and thus contribute considerably to a sustainable future of transportation.” Earlier this month, Baum was disparaging about Tesla’s electric proj...