New Driver/ Roll Over Accident

No, you're ridiculous for saying that. As a professional driver we're supposed to be ready for anything, with the exception of acts of God.

 

hey side, .. seriously ... apply at swift ... they will hire you .. this is not a joke. i was in their orientation last week, a guy was there with a cdl truck driving school diploma, he drove for the months of jan and feb and in march he rolled a truck, he fell asleep at the wheel and they hired him ... they are more out to hire young guys with hardly any experience and roll overs than ones who have almost 8 yrs experience... but seriously, they hired him right away, he had a little over 60 days driving and a rollover and he was dispatched the night of the last day of orientation....


bubba trucker

 

It's easy to say nonsense like that. You're supposed to be ready for anything, but it's simply not possible. There are things that happen on the road that are completely out of your control. A car could pull right in front of you and slam on its brakes. There is no way you can be ready for that. (This has happened to me driving a car where I was able to stop fast enough, but in a truck, there would have been no way.)

You can have a deer dart from behind a tree right in front of you, and your only choice is to plow into it.

You just can't control what other people and other things do on the road, and you simply can't be ready for everything they might do. You can be ready for a lot of it. It would be nice if a truck driver could be ready for anything, and it'd also be nice if there wasn't world hunger, sociopaths and suffering in general. Reality has a way of kicking idealism in the arse.

 

My prayers are with ya...................

 

As a professional driver you should be expecting every car or other vehicle at any and every intersection to pull out in front of you and be prepared to react. It's part of the Smith System Keys (Keep Your Eyes Moving and Make Sure They See You). If you see they don't see you, you should be in another lane (provided you're on a multi-lane road/highway), or out of your accelerator and hovering your brakes with your hand near the air horn chain/cord.

I covered that when I said the only exception is an act of God. However, you are NOT to swerve if a deer runs out in front of you. Remember though, I did say that we're all human and make mistakes. I have personally reacted to a deer with a swerve but luckily it was a desolate stretch of highway so there was no incident at all. Other acts of God would include, but are not limited by, lightening striking nearby tree or telephone pole and said tree/pole falling in your path or on your truck.

You better be if you wanna keep your job/license/money/freedom.

Allow me to reiterate, again, that we are all human and thusly mistakes will happen, but there's not a court, safety department, or insurance company out there that will let human error count as an excuse.

I'm not talking about idealisms. I'm talking about reality. Like the reality of human mistakes and the reality of those mistakes costing those humans. Like it or not, that's just the way it is (read: reality).


In the words of "My Cousin Vinny" star Jim Pesci, I'm through with THIS guy.

 

I described a scenario in which your, "smith system keys" means nothing. This happened in reality to me in a car. As I said, If I were driving a truck, I would have rear ended him. I'll decribe the situation further. This guy did not speed ahead of me and pull in front of me because he did not see me. He did so because he was mad I let a car get into the lane. Nor was there another lane to pull in. (for that matter, just because there is a multi lane DOES NOT mean that you can use it because there can be other traffic in the way. ) He pulled right in front of me with only a foot to spare and then slammed on his brakes in the same second. There was absolutely, most certainly, no time to react if you were in a truck hovering your brake or whatever other nonsense you think would have worked in the scenario. You seem to fail to grasp that the way things should be and the way things are are two different things.

1. You seem to have a confused notion of what acts of god are.
2. Nowhere in my post did I say you should swerve.

As I've already made clear, things can happen on the road that you cannot be ready for, so just because you are involved in an accident doesn't necessarily mean you made any error of judgement on your part. That doesn't mean you won't get fired, but that's not a flaw in your judgement - that's the flaw in the employers.

No, infact you're talking about how you "should" be ready for anything that happens on the road. I don't have any problem with the fact we're human and make mistakes, nor do I have any problem with the fact that we pay for those mistakes, but that doesn't change the fact that things happen on the road you cannot be ready for. Period. As I've already said, you have a problem with saying how things should be and not accepting how they are.

 

If no citations were issued,then most companies would rule this a non-preventable accident.I rolled my rig down an embankment,destroyed my tractor.I had just spent 2 months painting and rebuilding it prior to this.I was on I-80.I was in the left lane,saw a car entering the highway from an on ramp so I stayed put.Roads were wet.No problem,yes big problem.The car accellerated as I was overtaking him.He went sideways in the roadway.Fine,I went into the gravel shoulder,still had control.He still came into my lane,sideways.I ran over his engine compartment,ripped out my front suspension.Lucky for him it kicked his car away from me,no injuries.I finally jack-knifed,took out 40 feet of guardrail and down a 60 foot culvert.The driver of the car was issued a ticket for speed not prudent for conditions.He also claimed that another truck hit him.There were no other trucks around,imaginary truck?I did get a lawyer,sued his insurance company for the rig and lost earnings.I did win my case.Lawyers are sharks in the water,for your benefit or the plaintiff.Do retain one.

 

Scarecrow, I agree with you....

 

Did the State Police do an accident investigation? Anybody else on the road to act as a witness? I can understand the loss of memory after a heinous accident but not being able to account for what happened sounds bad from the employer side of things. At least you were not seriously injured, so there is a bright side... but finding a job is gonna suck unless you can account for what happened.

I assume they tested you for any medical conditions and/or drugs/alcohol after the accident to account for the loss of memory? If they did and it came up clear then you at least have some positive spin to add to the accident.

Best of luck,

-Reby

 

Scarecrow, if you are replying to wicthwaywest,you have alot to learn about the road.If a car or truck causes me to wreck because of their inability to pay attention or their lack of experience in bad weather is that an act of mother nature?No ,it's an act of human nature,lack of experience driving,stupidity,and inattentiveness.Seems to me your training manuel must be your bible.A book can give you just so much,hours on the road,years on the road teach you more than you can get from a book.I have always asked for advice from experienced truckers when I first started.It did help in many situtations.You have one year driving,I have 27 years.Don't preach.