Drove for a large trucking company for 4 months. Got terminated last week.
Had 3 accidents -- dented a trailer wheel hub against a tree while making a sharp right turn on a narrow country road; smashed a stop sign making a left turn, on a very sharp turn in an old residential neighborhood in South Carolina; and knocked over a concrete post next to a fuel pump at a service center in Illinois.
The first two happened early on. I went where the navigator told me to go, but it was too tight for my driving experience at that time. The last one, the clincher, was just due to carelessness, haste (running out of hours), and fatigue.
It was my own fault. There are no excuses for preventable accidents. Now I've got a Class A CDL that's useless to me, a career that's closed to me, and no job. I'll miss driving, but I have to admit that it's good to be home every day. I'll pick up any kind of job now, flipping burgers, whatever, and just be thankful I can go home at the end of the day.
Lesson learned: It just ain't for everybody.
Maybe the Shortest Career in Trucking
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Wanderdog, Jul 2, 2013.
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Ghost Ryder, landstar8891, Dave 1960 and 19 others Thank this.
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Thank you for the informative posts . More newbies that don't make it should share their experiences . Here's a quote from a post you made earlier
You CDL may not be useless . You might be able to get a job with an LTL carrier working on the dock and get more practice backing . How are you at backing a straight truck ? There may be job opportunities there
Wanderdog Thanks this. -
Yeah, I don't necessarily think your career is over. I'm sure there are a few bottom feeding companies that would look at you.
But YOU need to get your act together.FloTheWaitress, Jrdude5 and Wanderdog Thank this. -
I think starting trucking is different, maybe harder in some ways now, different than it was 20-30 years ago.
Back then, you were most likely to start with a small crappy company, with beat up equipment. I didn't see my first new truck until I had been driving over ten years, hell, not even a truck that was less than two years old.
You didn't have the qualcom, with some desk jockey nagging you, tracking you. You didn't have cell phones which did make it easier to call customers to get directions, but also meant some office jerk could call you at whim.
You didn't have a GPS. You had to THINK, slow down, park, read a map, find a pay phone to call a customer.
You could get away with more, and had a better chance of surviving in the industry until you had enough experience to possibly get a better job.
The way the industry has changed (at least with the big companies) they throw you out by yourself after truck driving school, maybe a few weeks with a trainer, and expect you to deal with changing conditions they have no personal experience with, while bugging you via qcom about being on time, running illegally, running legally, and so on. They don't take into account that to be able to drive a truck safely, and survive in this industry, you still have to think, have some experience to recognize problems, and avoid them if possible, and deal with what is in front of you, no matter WTF it is.
In the old days the person you usually had contact with at your company was likely an ex-driver, who at least understood a little about what you went through. and realized you may be 10 miles away from a load to pick up in Chicago, NYC, LA, or Miami, but you aren't likely to make it in 10 minutes at 5 pm in the afternoon.
(Yes, the longer they worked at a desk, the less they remembered)
The best thing new drivers need to learn is how to say 'NO', and also to pay 100% attention, automatically, to what you see in front of you. The GPS ain't gonna do it. You have to think, even though the trucks are easier to drive and live in, now, and the companies would be happy replacing us with robots, the only thing that keeps us employed in this crappy industry is that we are human, and have the potential to think, reason, and identify stupid stuff, problems. danger.HwyPrsnr, tracyq144, ricknago920 and 15 others Thank this. -
You can still drive; that stuff was just minor. Many drivers have run over a sign or something in their career & just kept quiet about it. Just keep looking if you really want to drive.
RyderontheStorm, 281ric, Wanderdog and 1 other person Thank this. -
What's the difference between a Veteran driver and a Rookie? The Rookie hasn't run over/into/sideswiped/crunched/slide into,ect. yet.
wtxiceman, Pmracing, vikingswen and 11 others Thank this. -
Almost 30 years trucking and i have made my mistakes along the way..Anyone ever tells you that they never did are LIARS...We will all tear some #### up...Sad part is that they ''reported'' you.Many times you can just keep on trucking and forget about it...CertifiedSweetie, Jrdude5, Wanderdog and 4 others Thank this. -
This leads to your bad trainining
driverdriver Thanks this. -
sounds like you were turned loose too soon, sorry about your luck but at least this happened before you killed yourself or someone on the highway.
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Sooner or Later,it is going to bite you..His case was Sooner...Many,many,many drivers with years of trucking have tore #### up...Some have rolled them..
There is no ''perfect'' driver.Just drivers that wanna be perfect and tell everyone they are...reefer75 Thanks this.
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