Why so many accidents every week?

when i was in Van Buren a couple of weeks ago my old fleet mgr showed me the list of accidents just for that weekend and it was like 28.He said that was actually a slow weekend.Cost the company an estimated 30,000 just for that weekend.The report showed the drivers and their experience level.Only two out of the 28 had more than a years driving experience

 

Well keep in mind too, what the company considers and accident/incident may differ from what we as individuals do. Last summer, I had to swing wide in downtown Birmingham to make a sharp turn onto a narrow street. This happened to be a truck legal route and it was the exact routing given by the company to reach our drop yard. While making my turn I had bumped up against a railroad rail edge and one of the rivets along the rail cut the sidewall of my left steer tire causing a blow out. No property was damaged, no vehicle on vehicle collisions, and no damage to the truck aside from the blown steer tire. I managed to limp out of the traffic right of way to a safe spot to stop and road side assist got the tire changed. Found out after the repair that USA Truck considers a blown steer tire to almost always be an incident/accident. They at first classified it as a preventable accident which didn't get changed until I asked to be routed to Van Buren to dispute it with Safety. After drawing a VERY artistic overhead diagram of the street and providing a written statement of how it occurred, it was downgraded to an "incident," much the same as would be for getting towed out of snow or mud. Therefore I was still in the qualifying run for mention of 1 year accident free.

My point is that many of the little things that happen day-to-day in the company that don't involve injuries or property damage, or even law enforcement involvement, are recorded as "accidents" and are passed along in the QC message as such. Many times the drivers don't even realize it. I believe this may be one of the reasons that drivers find out when changing employers that they have negative marks on a DAC they were unaware of.

As far as the cell phones thing goes, thats one of my biggest pet peeves among truck drivers. The two worst offenders seem to be container pullers and other local drivers. I make a point of calling them out on the CB every time I see one. I'll say something like "I guess the cell phone ban applies to everyone but you huh?" Its extremely irritating. Even worse are the guys that do it inside a truck stop as they are blowing through, completely oblivious (or don't care) that they cut other drivers off.

 

going into a ditch is just an incident?

 

Incident, accident still looks the same on your DAC and trust me. If/when you go to leave for another company, it will be there. A simple thing like hitting a curb can be an accident if someone reports it. Especially if you happen to knock the tire loose on the rim.

 

The reason is elogs, gps,, governored trucks and people that didnt really want to drive trucks but were forced to cause of the ecomony ive seen more accidents the past couple years then ever.

 

Please understand, I'm not trying to downplay the significance of failing to maintain control of or operate your truck safely. I'll expound a little more. If you've ever seen anybody leave a paved road (what we called in the Army "the hardball") and get on a dirt or gravel road and get stuck requiring a tow, the carrier considers that an "incident." It may not have damaged the truck at all or even be reportable under CSA, but since it required a tow at company expense and in theory was preventable, they classify that as an incident.

I don't at all equate that with running off the road at speed into a ditch or median. To me, that is a failure to maintain control or safe operation of your vehicle.

 

Uh-huh....I slapped my son for calling me an insane ###### b**ch that needed to be on drugs over something concerning how he was using my cellphone here at home. He attacked me back, I got him pinned down and called the police for help. He was 3 weeks shy of turning 18. Guess who got arrested? Yep! Fines and fees totalling over a couple of grand, a bit of 1500 for the domestic violence classes and nearly 2 grand extorted from me by DHS for child support while they were both out of my custody. Real nice eh?
But the kids that are truly abused and living in filthy, drug using homes with no money are deemed to be okay and left alone to die in a washing machine like the 10 day old infant a year prior to my incident.

 

Shoot. My dad is in his late 70's. I still wouldn't mess with him. All I have to do is put my elbows on the table. You look up and see those Eastwood eyes. They come off the table quick. My dad was strict while I was growing up. He was in the infantry.

 

Umm if you mean for truckers it has already been done. As of Jan 2011 it became Illegal for a commercial driver to be holding a cell phone while driving.

 

Whatever you want to call it, that was 100% your fault, and if they wanted to call it an accident/accident, that is their right. You were at fault. Don't get me wrong, everyone has had something go bad that they could have prevented, but back then you just explained it away. These days of someone watching and reporting everything you do, there is little room for error.