New to Truck driving and now working with unsafe equipment. Any advice?

That ain't no lie...

 

When you do your dvir everyday check off everything that's wrong. Also write in the comment section what's bad on your truck. If you sign off everyday and something happens they can say oh I thought everything was OK with that truck. Where in Texas are you? I am in Midland at a starter company. CRAPPY equipment but I still made $3000 for the last 2 weeks.

 

Pattij is right.... a starter is the best place for new drivers... I tried to go the non-starter company route first and was inover my head very quickly... I finally wised up, got humble and got on with a starter company.. I am happy here as they have a lot of reresources for me as a new driver....

You must protect your CDL... that is not the responsibility of any company... it is your CDL, Your livelihood and it is your responsibility to protect it.... Not to mention... do you really want to have to deal with the financial and emotional fallout if you have an accident and seriously hurt or kill someone? You won't find solace is knowing that the accident happened cause the equipment you decided to continue to drive was crap...

I am just getting off an intermodal account.. and those trailers also take a beating.. hard to find one that doesnt dogtail down the road, often the airbags go cause of the heavy loades and all the dropping... I was stupid once, saw that an air bag had a quick fix patch on it.. didnt want to wait for roadside to co e replace it took a chance a drove it.. it was good when I passed the first scale.. but at the second I got pulled in and given a level 1.. almost passed.. except after I rolled off the inspection ramp.. the officer heard some air.. it was a slight barely audiable leak.. had me empty and fill a cojple of times and each time the leak got worse and more audiable... so, put out of service and given a ticket.. $197 out of my pocket... lesson learned...

 

dot never does anything.

there sure seem to be a lot of threads about inspections in the houston area. which happens to be east texas.

 

A company I sued for wrongful termination,I was never so happy to finally be done with them because of unsafe equipment.Its bad when u have to worry every minute of the day if you're going to make it to your desination in one piece or not.I've had many road brk downs and it wasn't the everyday flat tire u see on the side of the road.I got fired because I refused a lot of loads due to not feeling safe driving and my boss refused having a shop look at it unless it was his shop.OK fine i'll just sit.So I pretty much sat the last 2 weeks.He shows up at a receiver that I was tricked into delivering that load and fired me right on the spot.I didn't waste no time,found myself a good lawyer the next day.I also turned him in to Iowa FMCSA.

 

So what your saying is when you get in your truck and do a pretrip and find things wrong you just write them up and go about your day?If you write it up on a posttrip and its not fixed do not get back in the next morning if nothing has been fixed.If you know its wrong and still continue to drive it then you are as responsible as the company for any mishaps.I understand you need to make money and may feel pressured to work but if you have an accident and kill someone because of a defect you knew about hows that going to make you feel?It's easy to lay the blame on the company but you are on the front lines looking at the truck.Bring it to their attention as they may not know about it.

 

Don't kid yourself......they know what shape their equipment is in. I quit driving junk years ago. Way to much stress. Might as well be overloaded everywhere you go. Not any different. Your illegal and looking for that next ticket on your CDL.

 

Yeah, hired not 1099. I have also been telling them I have air leak, today I had to go out and I did not even get out of yard before it went from 120 psi to 60. My dad thankfully was there and found a hose that was leaking and fixed it. I told my dad that I am glad he was there, but he will not always be able to fix things. I love the job, just not the trucks, and I am trying to stick it out. Thanks for the comment.

 

Oh, we are always over loaded too, yeah I know if I keep it up, I am just waiting for trouble. I also have suspension broke off in front driver side, bald tire on back right trailer, two tires with wire showing on each side of the front trailer tires, and I could keep going. They say as long as it still has air, it is good, I say I am going to jab a nail in it lol.

 

Thank you so much, I think I am going to tell them in the morning that I will drive once everything is fixed. The only reason I hesitate is because of my dad getting upset since he asked for the job to get me experience. My dad has had to help me a lot in the last year, and I just want to get back on my feet.