Fired for driving accident in recent snow

You learned a lesson.
“You’re only as important as the last load you hauled.”
Find a new job, explain what happened, if you don’t feel safe, don’t drive, who cares if they say “We have nothing, get there now!”
Your reply, “You should’ve been prepared.”

 

You choose to drive in unsafe conditions and got in a wreck...completely preventable.

 

Just say NO!

 

This is a bit of a conundrum for drivers with little experience.
Yes you do feel pressure to keep going, you want to make a good impression with your abilities. Part of that is to show good judgement when the going gets tough.
The people in the office have no idea what the road conditions are like. Ultimately it is the driver’s call when to
park it.
Although for such a minor incident they could have shown more compassion.

 

File a claim against them for what? You chose to drive in dangerous conditions. Unless you have a message from dispatch, on an app or the QC, that says "you must deliver this load or else..." the responsibility is all yours. If you do have proof of coercion, then the company may be in violation of the whistle blower act of the Surface Transportation Act of 1982..

The days of "Billy big rigging" in dangerous weather are not worth it. You are only risking your life and the life of others, and for what, showing up and the customer is closed. Tear the equipment up or injure someone and look around to see if your dispatcher is standing beside you at your arraignment.

 

If you parked the truck and sent in a message on your pc why (ice, snow, whatever just happened down south,) they won’t question it.

 

No you can’t.

as for the statement, written or verbal, you are owed that and should get one.

now that said, you ain’t going to like what I tell you.

if you have a cdl, you need to learn who is in charge of that truck, it is you. It isn’t safety, it isn’t the old lady driving the dodge racing down the road ... it is you. As for anyone else too, you have to learn how to be a grown up and say “no”.

actually I will move this a step forward, it should be part of your skills test, to see if people testing for a cdl knows the word “no”.

it isn’t a hard word to learn, it isn’t something that should be used for everything but because you knew the roads were bad, you knew that there exists something called snow and vehicles are stuck, you got to get the idea the word “no” needs to be used.

also, a big pet peeve of mine and a lot of others is this ‘a very popular flatbed company’, who in the heck is that? My company is very popular with me and my drivers but may not be with others, if you worked for them, name them.

 

It's your story. Stick to it. Don't expect any sympathy, Get another job,