5:00 a.m. this morning I was filling my pickup truck at a gas station and I look over at one of the entrances to the station, here comes a Swift truck turning into the station (or trying to), he didn't swing far enough out and the middle of his trailer is about to scrape up against a light post. He backed up a little and tried pulling forward again this time hitting the light post and pushing it over a foot or two. I wanted to stand there and watch him but I was running late for an appointment. When I came out of the building after paying for my gas, he had it parked just pass the entrance off the highway. That's where I would've parked it anyway, most drivers do that anyway. There was even a tanker delivering at the time which also made things a little tighter to even consider pulling into the station, not to mention the canopy over all the gas pumps.

Not trying to put this driver down, but I thought to myself, there is a man who is probably a new driver and just didn't receive the proper training to do a better job. It looked like a brand new truck and trailer too.

Just hope he makes it safely to where ever he was going.

Interesting post by just passing thru, I found it very informative, but also checked some math figures, from the total number of accidents 2193 over 2years 6 months and 14 days, give or take a couple that is about 2.5 accidents per day, figure an average of 2,000 drivers on the road per day and that may be a little light, and give a conservative 300 miles per day thats about 600,000 miles that seems a little high at 2.5 per day but I am curious as to what some of the other companies average, and Swift being a training company like schnieder, Werner, UsXpress and others I really can't put the blame on the drivers, I tend to Blame the company, and their intimidation methods they use on young drivers. I did drive for Swift for 4 years, and was a trainer there one of the things I taught my trainees was not to let Swift or any company bully you or threaten you with your job to get a load there if you can't do it don't get yourself killed or someone else doing something that they or any other company wont back you up on. I have over 30 years on the road, and finally gave it up As a trainer and driver I have had all I can take our industry has changed so much for the worse and I have to blame that on the Companies. To those of you still out there be careful and try to enjoy.

Thumper, I've been told by "someone who knows" that Swift's safety rating is 69. Your post thus makes sense.

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--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.

69 is not great but for Swift? That is a BIG improvement.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

I am now retired and hope I never have to go back on the road again.However I will keep my CDL,cause you never know what cards your gonna be dealt in this life.To all you newbies starting out,stay away from Swift,they are no darn good,I did a short stint with them and have never seen a more rude and lying bunch of dispatchers in my trucking career.I have driven for three OTR companies and been an O/O.Swift was definitly the bottom of the barrel.The dispatchers talk as if they own the company and the drivers.They would rather have inexperienced drivers on their board that they can [lie to.]In my case I knew more about truckin than what my dispatcher did,and he tried to make life rough for me.He couldnt BS me.I was later transferred to another dispatcher,(a new one)who tried to do right by me,but by then the damage had been done.I had already decided to quit them by that time.I dont like to badmouth any company,but good old Swift deserves it.I hear a lot of bad things about JB and US Express,but I know firsthand what Swift is all about.Stay away from them.

hey ya'll hope everyone is doin good, looks like a lot of us agree swift is pretty bad and probably not a great place to start, but I have to say a lot of the big companies out there aren't much better. I did 6 months with UsXlpress and they were ok if you like running east of the mississippi but I don't I grew up out west and learned to drive out west so I obviously am more comfortable going over wolf creek, Monarch, red mountain and cabbage than I am cussing the streets of New York. I feel most of the companies out there are going to tell you what you want to hear to get you in the door and the only thing I can tell the new drivers is learn your job and don't let them bully you around. I have a few war stories I could share but I think they don't need to be repeated the main thing is learn your job and respect yourself and others and enjoy what you do if you don't enjoy it find something you do enjoy and do it. Ya'll be careful out there. be cool on your stool

Thumper I can agree with everything you say.I have lived in the eastern 1/2 of the US all of my life,and I too would rather have operated in the western part of the country.Problem is with all companies is that the bulk of the freight is in the eastern part.That is one thing we as drivers,or the companies can do nothing about.If your gonna run trucks ya gotta be where the freight is.I know the east coast,especially the northeast sector is a very bad place to be.Heck of it is the whole country is fast becoming that way.Try running Dallas to Laredo on I-35 when there is constrution going on,it is just as bad as driving thru NJ.I spent a month doing the west coast with good old Swift,and it aint any better than the east coast.My point is,that if your gonna drive truck you are gonna have to do time on the east coast.As has been stated here many times,truckin is a hard job,a job where you hafta take the bad with the good.I was off of the road for about 8 yrs.,then due to things that happen in life I went back out.I coudnt believe how things had changed,no longer can you drive til 9 or 10 in the evening and find a place to park for the night.Seems like by 4 PM the truck stops are all filled up.I am now retired again and glad I no longer have that problem.More and more trucks on the road every day.Good luck to all of you who are still out there truckin.

Road Dog...do you see more truck stops being built in the near future, it seems the demand may be there...

or is the demand for parking only, whereas there is not the profit there for the truck stop companies to expand?

As a likely new driver in the coming months here, the parking situation seems like a pain not needed in an already difficult business to learn...

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I don't see the demand for more truckstops. I see a resurgence of the railroads on the horizon. This is because after January 2009, a new "green wave" will sweep the US. The elites will have finally figured out how to charge for green energy and will then begin bringing it to the masses.

One sign I see that this is coming is Warren Buffet's recent investments in everything railroad. The rails are gonna start being utilized to move freight in a much bigger way in the future, my brethren. We are all distracted by the Mexicans coming up and stealing our jobs when we should be watching out for Norfolk Southern taking our market share.

Of course, I also believe that Hillary Clinton will win the election in 2008. She won't really "win", of course. The elites will arrange for her "victory" to happen so that the new green wave will hit us full force.

So, in short, I think the future holds fewer truckstops and fewer trucks on the road that need those stops. Forget anti-idling laws. New mandatory teaming laws and trains running 24/7/365 are in our futures.

Type in "Warren Buffet" on Yahoo, look around, and then go invest in Norfolk Southern, BNSF, and UP railroads.

__________________
--Paved Dudley--

Yeah I drive a Swift truck
And that means one thing
It means she's slow
It's a typical company truck
It's just all show and no go

I'm gettin' passed by Yella
And even Overnite
I'm gettin' passed by ever' body in sight
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight

No, my hometown's nowhere in sight
And if you think I'm pissed off
You're right
46 days on the road
And I'm not gettin' home tonight


Love pissing off those trucking company insiders.

I'm with TIP, I think in the next few years we are going to see the use of the solo OTR trucker drop like a rock. With HOS laws getting to be so restrictive that in order to make a living you'll be forced to run team ops. Not only for the drivers but also for the owner of the truck to make it pay.
Teams will be running most of the loads that exceed 800 to 1000 miles and they'll only be doing drop and hook at a trailer pool similar to the container pool or the rail car pool. It will not be cost effective for them to be making live load/unloads. And the solo driver will be used in local/regional ops. As well as the pay rate for that won't be that great because companies will have a huge job force to pick from all the guys that won't team.

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