Vicky Percious used to bartend and wait tables in an area where a lot of truckers came through. She’d listen to their road stories, and they motivated her to become a trucker herself once both her children were out of school.
Percious started as a company driver before going the owner-operator route. She currently drivers an expeditor truck as an owner-operator with Landstar.
“We do the same thing, just in smaller quantities,” Percious said of her expeditor truck, a 2004 Freightliner Business Class 102. Her truck has an 84-inch sleeper and 22-foot box.
Her truck hauls anything and everything, and she hauls throughout the lower 48, she says.
“Anything that a big truck hauls, we haul,” Percious said.
Percious recently reached a million miles without any preventable accidents for Landstar. She was recognized by the company for her safe driving at the fifth annual Landstar BCO (Business Capacity Owners) All-Star celebration July 1-3.
“It’s hard out here, you have to really watch everybody else. It’s not your driving that’s in question a lot of times, it’s other people’s, because if you’re not watching somebody’s going to cause you to have an accident,” Percious said.
Percious has been trucking for about 24 years, and she says increased traffic is a concern when it comes to safe driving.
“It’s a hard milestone to reach because of all the traffic anymore and all the drivers,” Percious said. “When I started the traffic wasn’t near as bad, but now it’s a challenge.”
She recommends trucking to anyone whose family or support system is accepting of them being gone for weeks at a time. Part of the time Percious and her boyfriend, who is also a trucker, drive team, and the other half of the time they’re both running their individual trucks.
“If people can’t accept your time on the road, then it’s not going to work, because all it’s going to do is create conflict at home,” Percious said. “You have to be careful of what your situation is before you go into driving if you want to make a long term career out of it.”
She usually stays out 4-6 weeks at a time before returning home, but when she does have down time she likes to try to visit the beach as much as possible.
