Did I ruin my trucking career before it even started?

Careless driving is a serious charge and should be dealt with as such, but know that you don't have to roll over and play dead. If you can't afford an attorney (look into TVC), I think you should enter a not guilty plea and wait for trial.

I used to be in trouble with the law twenty years ago. I prevailed twice by showing up when the ticketing officer did not, and twice I escaped unfair tickets by arguing before the judge.

It's entirely within the realm of possibilities that you could emerge victorious in court simply by appearing or arguing your case. I would argue that your trainer was negligent in his duties and that your were left to fend for yourself and absolutely intended no damage to property.
Offer to pay for damages over time. Show regret for your actions. You weren't actually careless, you just made an honest mistake and won't hide from the consequences. You're hardly Al Capone.

It won't cost you anything but time whereas a careless driving offense is going to stain your record for at least the next three years.

Also, I recommend staying on with WE should they keep you on. Everyone knows they're a poop company to work for, but you need the experience and are in a desirable position to achieve this end.

Make your rookie mistakes with Western Express. They practically exist for this purpose.

 

First of all, do not go plead guilty, even if you are guilty, you need to get a lawyer!

Not a truck stop know it all, you need a lawyer as you are dealing with a situation that has real lasting long term consequences.

This is because often times the police charge you with as much as they can knowing that later on your lawyer will talk to the DA and try to work out a deal, no lawyer = no deal.

You may be able to get the charges reduced, you may even be able to get a deferred adjudication, but you need to speak with a lawyer, and if you cannot afford a lawyer one will be provided to you.

As far as your career, you are still driving for them, and with where you are at your trainer should have had his ### sat in the other seat helping you learn. Take this as a learning experience, you just learned how quickly accidents can happen and the need to be careful, and no one was hurt, the property damage in the grand scheme of things was minimal, not like you just wiped out a car full of kids or something. It was a pole. Not saying it was good, but holy crap could it have been a lot worse!

Hopefully for you this is going to be a big fat wakeup call that it is time to grow up and be a man and take responsibility for yourself and engage in serious professionalism, you have an opportunity to make a career for yourself here and do things right, or you can be a story of just another guy who couldn't make it out here on the big road, whether you win or lose is going to depend on how you conduct yourself going forward.

Years down the road if you make the right moves now and wind up winning, you will look back at this incident and laugh about it, it will become a story you can tell about how you were 4 days in and your trainer just threw you to the wolves and you took out a pole.

 

yes always look back when doing a right hand turn on a street corner making sure your back axles are not taking out anything, remember your no longer driving a car. Hopefully a lesson learned and you'll move on with it. Unless it is really unsafe driving for them try and do between 6 - 12 months before moving on. With no driver shortage companies can afford to choose who they will hire. So at present its a recruiters market so be grateful you have a job, do your best get a good reference so when its time to move on you'll be able to work for a much better company, personally I think most Transport companies are the same the only difference is the colour of the hood.

 

Heavy smoker of what commodity?

 

Definitely stay there unless they fire you. Then if you have to find another job you can try. Western Express is about the easiest company to get on with so you may be in a bad way if they fire you.

 

It's a commodity now? Man, the world is changing.

 

Well....I'm not here to crucify you. I will say wait to see if Western Express will fire you first. If they don't fire you, then your career is not ruined. Just damaged. I don't know that getting a lawyer is worth the money for this one. Maybe you can gamble, show up to court and hope the officer don't show, or maybe the judge will have mercy. I remember years back(2010), I had a couple of incidents/accidents, they just charged me 500 bucks each time. Took 50 weekly. They ran me well so I didn't notice it.

Now what you must understand is this: act like your plan to leave in 6 mos don't exist. Sometimes I think that new or damaged drivers get so caught looking ahead to when they can leave that they dont focus on what's at hand. You're new to the game. Ok..Western Express doesn't have a great reputation. It's still a job, and they are a reputable company and it will count as experience when you move on so they are valuable in that way. Focus solely on honing your skills and becoming a really good driver, so that you become undeniable wherever you're at. Don't worry about your next job. Don't even think about leaving that job after 6 months because you'll only be going from beginner company to beginner company. Lateral move. 1 year is the real benchmark. Even if you can't make move after the year, you still have a job.

 

not a rj rynolds or phillip morris product .

 

I used to buy this and put it in little zip-lock baggies, then gift it to some women I was dating. I stayed clean to protect my CDL.
Anyway, I'd give this stuff to them and sometimes they'd take it to parties, that I didn't attend. The people liked it and ask for more. Kept asking where I got that stuff, but said "I can't reveal that and you know it."
Oregano flakes: