Catch-22?

My state--Florida--changed that. It's either get a DOT physical or downgrade your license.

 

Every place ya go there are curbs, they build roundabouts where I live that you can't get around with a trailer on except taking the curb. As far as GPS goes, like the experienced has said many times, get yourself a Road Atlas and study it, can't trust a GPS. Will take you across a brook with no bridge every time.
Them so called accidents ain't nothin Man. Lots of company's will hire you. I was told a long time ago to hang onto my CDL. I'm glad I listened. May pull you out of a jam down the road, it sure did for me.
Don't let a Truck or a Company use you, can't be successful. Only my opinion.

 

It sounds like maybe your schooling and/or training wasn't adequate. In case you end up being able to revive your career, it's worth pointing out that none of these incidents are in the "stuff happens" category. Being new, there's a natural impulse to want to show that you can handle the job, but sometimes handling the job means asking for help. In each of these three incidents, the right thing to do is stop the truck. You can't hit anything when you're not moving.

No good reason to crunch the car. Cross your fingers, step on the gas and hope for the best is not the right move. If you have to stop and GOAL every six inches, then that's what you do. If you see you can't make it, go inside and find the owner of the car. If the owner isn't there, then maybe it's an unauthorized vehicle subject to being towed at the owner's expense.

Any employer that is going to hold a flat tire against you needs to be replaced. You are the final judge of whether or not your vehicle is safe to drive. When tires are low, they get hot - even at low speed - and when they get hot, they fall apart. If it's a drive tire or a trailer tire, you've got seven more, but with a steer tire, you're driving - and steering - on the rim. And even if you don't wreck from driving on the rim, you still need to replace the rim now too. Driving to a shop and replacing a rim and a tire could cost more than just replacing the tire on a road call. And even if the cost is the same, your job is to choose the safer option. Maybe you didn't know this stuff before, but now you do. Use it to your advantage if you get a second chance.

Gps's are not infallible. They can and do make mistakes. Don't just accept everything they tell you. If there's a bridge or viaduct on that dirt road, what are the odds that it has at least an 80k weight limit? Because if it doesn't, and something happens, it's your fault. The GPS won't matter. Best move is stop before making the turn and find out what the deal is. If you have to block traffic then so be it. Nobody knows why you've stopped. For all they know, you could have lost your brakes. Local police and county sheriff can be an excellent resource. If you can't find info on the road ahead, call the non-emergency number and ask if what your GPS is telling you is ok, or if they can advise a better route. Just make sure you tell them that you're trying to be as safe as possible. Never tell them that you're in any kind of hurry. Your stated priorities can make a huge difference in how they treat you.

One time I was in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, when I passed a sign that said bridge 20 ton weight limit. I wasn't sure where this bridge was, so I immediately pulled over. If you've never been to the northeast, the thing is that much of the area was built over a hundred years before cars were invented, so a lot of those old towns are really tight. I mean, I could have practically rolled down my passenger window, reached out and rung the doorbell of the house I was next to. So the road I was on was a fairly busy main road, but still just a tight two lanes, like barely two lanes, zero shoulder. But that's where I stopped. So now the two lane road is one lane and the traffic has to take turns going past me in opposite directions. But that's safer than driving a 37 ton semi across a bridge with a 20 ton weight limit, so that's where I sat to figure it out.

Called the local police non emergency number, explained who I was, what I was doing, what I had seen and where my uncertainty lied. It took us awhile to figure out what road I was on, because they knew it by a different name than my GPS called it. Then we had to figure out what route I was intending to take and what the weight limits on that route were.

Long story short, I had misunderstood the sign, and it was pertaining to a side street which I had already passed before stopping. So after tying up traffic in this ancient town for 20 minutes plus, the police and I thanked each other for being so careful and methodical, and I was on my way.

 

This is a GREAT post and should be required reading for everyone just going solo for their first time.!

 

oh @Chinatown your help is needed

 

I sent a list by private message a couple months ago.
Here's some more to try though:
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I'm pretty sure that when you try to get hired on with another company you only need to worry about the actual accident. The other 2 are just BS that the company hiring noobs that they don't properly train should expect.

 

I guess this is one of those illegal alien-2d Amendment sanctuary power battles between States and Feds. You remember this, I'm sure:

 

Here in Maine it is possible to not have a medical card and have a Class A License. At the time of renewal the state merely puts a "K" restriction on the license. The K means that the driver must show a medical card prior to applying for work. While the license holder is still alowed to operate commercial equipment in a not for hire situation