Heartland Express Hits Wire Brought Down By Excavator

"Your system". I don't have a system, boss.

What I do know is that all accidents which require a tow truck, involve injuries, and staties on the scene are DOT reportable. Far as I know, that's a federal law and not just "my system".

We've talked about this many times on this forum- unlucky drivers get passed up on when it comes to hiring for the better paid positions.

It doesn't matter if an accident is your fault or not- it makes it more expensive to insure you as a driver and carriers do not like drivers who seem to wreck, even when not "at fault".

Having one wreck, not at fault, over 10 years ago- you're probably fine. But having any type of accident within the last few years, and many carriers will pass on hiring you. A lot of carriers will probably be fine with hiring that driver, but not necessarily a good paying, stand up outfit who takes the money they save on insurance and repairs and pays it to their drivers with pristine driving records.

I don't like it, but that's how I see it and it makes me weary of relying on this business...

 

By 'your system' I was referencing the American system. I live north of the border, eh!

That kind of seems unfair for an accident that is 0% the drivers fault to follow him around. They don't do that here. I think it's 25% at fault minimum before it starts following you around here.

 

Ah, gotcha. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

There are even percentages of fault in Canada? That's a much better system.

For commercial license holders in the US, all accidents follow us around- even non-accidents! Say you bump into a trash can leaving no damage on either the trash can or your vehicle. If the trash can owner or a looky-lou calls it in to your company, it's called an "incident", and that can follow a driver around as well.

There's a reason the ranks of commercial drivers in the US are being filled with inexperienced dim wits and the experienced professionals are abandoning the industry.

 

Nope. Gotta stop you there. The Mythbusters took on this urban legend and proved it to be false.

While the tension released when a tought wire is powerful, it does not cut people in half. It may kill, but it won't sever.

My brother tells me I am a pedantic a-hole.

 

No problem!

Ya, in BC for instance there are five levels of fault that can be assigned. 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%. It makes sense, as there are times when it's found that both drivers were morons. So for instance ICBC (our one and only insurer of basic insurance for all vehicles here) could pin a 25%/75% fault on them both if one was a bit less of a moron than the other, or a 50%/50% fault if they were both equally moronic. Those numbers also apply to any lawsuit payouts in court too. If you're 50% at fault, the final payout will be reduced by 50%.

So when we apply for work here, the employer will typically ask for a claims history printout, which will only list any at-fault accident at 25% or higher in any vehicle we've driven. They would never know if you were in one or one hundred thousand 0% at-fault accidents.

We also don't have an 'incident' database here either. So that's something foreign to me also. The only database is the above 25% at fault or higher claims history printout, and to get on that you'd typically be issued a citation by law enforcement after a crash, and to also be found guilty for said citation, should one decide to dispute the charge(s) in the court of law.

I've trucked through the States when I did the long haul thing years ago, and now I'm beginning to understand why some of you guys seemed on edge... I'd be walking around on pins & needles too if bumping into a dumpster or whatever could get me on some list. Ya, bumping into a dumpster or whatever here could get you fired I suppose, but unless a citation was issued by law enforcement (not likely to happen, as I doubt any Motor Vehicle Act citation would/could even be issued for bopping a dumpster around, and the cops have better things to do anyhow), and if there's no real damage then there could be no claim on insurance history.

 

Seems like a logical and reasonable system to implement. It will never catch on in the good 'ole US of A.

Appreciate the info!

 

It has its purposes. For instance, I was sitting at a red light one evening, and was the only third party witness to the ever-so-common light turns yellow, dude in pickup truck decides to make a left turn, but motorcycle coming in the opposite direction decides to race the yellow to get through the intersection.

And exactly what you'd expect to happen, happened... Dude on bike clips the truck, a bunch of sparks fly, and biker dude goes flying through the air. Luckily he survived.

The insurer was very persistent in getting my version of the events, even willing to meet up at a local Tim Horton's and buying me a cup of their swill, which they claim is coffee, for my time. I recommended a 50/50 split for blame, since they were pretty much both in the wrong to some degree.

 

I've gotta go with 25% to the biker and 75% to the pickup. Biker going forward has the right of way and the pickup turning left is required to yield to traffic from the opposite direction. Only caveat that would up the 25% to 50% is if it can be proven the biker was excessively speeding.

And I can't tell you how much it bothers me, how much some Americans love TH coffee. They swear by it. Won't drink anything else.

I'm an instant decaf man all the way. But not that powdery, dark stuff; the large, light-colored, granular instant coffee.

I've seen too many truck stop attendants take the same grimy rag they sanitize and wipe the counters with and have a go at the coffee machines.

I barely tolerate grabbing the hot water from the machines to make my instant coffee or tea. But I digress....

 

The biker did speed up in an attempt to make the yellow, when our MVA requires him to stop for a yellow if safe to do so, which he could've easily done. He tried to race the yellow. The timing of yellow to red, and if the bike crossed the the line before or after the red was important also, but it was so close that I couldn't state with any authority that it was red when he crossed. It was close though... This is why I recommended a 50/50 over a 25/75 or 100%. I also ride motorcycles, so I'm not biased against bikers at all.

As for coffee on the road? I hate to say it, but McDonald's has some pretty decent brew for a fast food franchise!