Catch-22?

390.5 defines an accident as
Accident means—
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this definition, an occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle operating on a highway in interstate or intrastate commerce which results in:
(i) A fatality;
(ii) Bodily injury to a person who, as a result of the injury, immediately receives medical treatment away from the scene of the accident; or
(iii) One or more motor vehicles incurring disabling damage as a result of the accident, requiring the motor vehicle(s) to be transported away from the scene by a tow truck or other motor vehicle.
(2) The term accident does not include:
(i) An occurrence involving only boarding and alighting from a stationary motor vehicle; or
(ii) An occurrence involving only the loading or unloading of cargo.

If any of the above elements of an accident are present the carrier MUST add this accident to their accident register as it is DOT recordable.

Carriers basically breakdown an accident that contains NONE of the above elements into accidents and incidents. Some carriers have to option to handle some of these internally only.

OP you reported as having 3 of these. You are still hirable, but you MUST get your head in this job and develop the ability to think critically in bad situations.

 

Actually, my union job considered hitting a curb and bending a rim, was a chargeable offense. Some here mentioned "small 1099 companies on CL", or "2nd chance companies"( that one is really disturbing) IDK, man, I guess it's not 1987 anymore,,,there's nothing here that is really bad, but it doesn't matter today, take down a pole, run into a bunch of 4 wheelers, what's the difference,,,to them?

 

The Dollar Store account is a terrible choice for new drivers. They don’t publish statistics, but I’ll bet more drivers leave the industry than finish their first year there. If that account were worth the hassle don’t you think they would be able to hire experienced drivers instead of preying on new ones?

So you followed your gps where you shouldn’t have, didn’t watch your tail while turning in a parking lot and drove on a flat with a trailer? Pretty standard stuff for an inexperienced driver. It didn’t help being in panic mode over being late.

Truth is there are companies that will still hire you. They don’t pay that well and will probably want to re-train you. You have to ask yourself how bad you want to be a driver.

 

2 of them are B.S. & don’t matter. You have one incident that counts.

Getting stuck is not a accident no matter what the company may say. As long as you didn’t cause property damage to anyone’s property (like a farmer’s field) that is.

The flat steer tire is what it is. I hope that going forward you don’t mess with steer tires. If it’s low, it mine as well be flat. Park the truck & call for road service. They’re trying to peg you for the tire popping off the rim, what would have happened had it deflated at speed? Same darn thing!

tearing up a car is an “accident” and is the one problem you have. Don’t beat yourself up...keep your head high & push on. My 1st couple years were on a bumpy road, now i’m almost 20yrs in. We all have to learn somehow.

hopefully @Chinatown can help you out with some suggestions.

 

There are plenty of second chance companies out there. Carolina Transport (I think that’s their name) comes to mind. They’ll hire anybody with a pulse. Or, you could go dump trucking or logging company driver for awhile.

 

Most companies keep "incidents" in house. BTW, what were the incidents?

 

Do not let your CDL lapse. All you have to do to maintain it is submit a new self-certification that your current CDL use doesn't require a current medical exam. It costs nothing.