This week has been crazy for work. I’ve been away more than I’ve been home. I’ve put over 2,000 miles on my truck since Sunday and plan another 500 to 800 miles before the week is over. Time for another oil change.
Since I’ve been driving and working so much, I’ve been tired most of the time. I did notice a couple of things when I get tired I thought I’d share. First, I become a worse driver. Yes, my reaction time slows down and my mind wanders a little. But my problem is that I get mad at other drivers and sometimes shout a couple choice words at them. It doesn’t help anything because the bleep-bleep-bleep that just made a mistake and almost caused an accident doesn’t even know he did it (probably on the phone). But what I really noticed is that now I’m paying attention to what a horrible driver the other guy is and not paying attention to what I’m doing. So I am resolving to work on that. I know it’s going to happen sooner or later that I’ll be looking at one distracted driver and the other driver that I didn’t see will do something, causing me to have a collision.
The other part I really need to pay attention to is when I’m getting back in my truck. I do pay attention coming out of the store and to things around my truck, but I don’t practice good habits of being safe in my truck. I will start my truck without getting in it. I’ll then stand next to it with the door open, the engine running to put things away, and set the radio station (or plug my iPhone in to listen to Podcasts). I’m just asking for someone to try and steal my truck. I should get in, lock the doors, start my truck, and then do anything else. The stuff I bought should go on the seat next to me and be put away later.
Just wanted to get everyone thinking about what we do differently when we are tired that we wouldn’t do normally.
Stay Safe,
Ben
I really like this type of post. It takes a lot for a guy to point out his flaws and try to fix them. Now that you have identified what’s wrong let’s hope you continue to work on them. That’s my hardest part, fixing those flaws.
Keep us updated on your progress of working through them.
I found another flaw yesterday, I really need to slow down when backing up a trailer when I’m tired. I went to back one of my company trailers out of a small spot at work like of done hundreds of times, but knocked over a 55 gallon drum. No damage, but a stupid thing to do. I’m really trying to up my awareness when I’m tired and not do anything else when I’m driving.