Am I just SOL

I lost my job because I had three accidents in a month. I've been driving since September 2015. No, I don't normally have accidents. Maybe I should have jumped ship after the second knowing their policy, but I couldn't imagine there being a third. I couldn't imaging their being a second for that matter. Now, I'm out of a job and have to explain that. I guess a consolation is the company I was at said I would be welcome back in a year.

The first one was a U-Haul towing a car was blocking the entrance to a truck stop waiting on a pump. It was rush hour, I was blocking the road, blocking the exit of the truck stop next door and only 15 minutes left on the 14. Blew the horn a few times and he moved over to a curb. As I go past he's out of the vehicle, looks to be a 20 something, yelling and screaming and has a 9mm on his hip. Great, if I successfully defend myself his likely going for that 9mm which will not escalate well for me. I figure hell, I'm going to a hospital.

I continued on, he got back in his vehicle and pursued. He tried pulling up on the driver's side, too close for me, so I cut him off. I was going to do a U to the left, but did a U to the right instead. I figure get the truck parked and deal with this, whatever may come, tight quarters likely in my favor, particularly with that 9mm. He pulled into the U so I wasn't going to be able to get into a parking spot. So much for making him cool his heels while I go back and forth, back and forth lining in up just perfect hoping get bored and leave. Plan B is a, if needed, a violent confrontation.

So the plan was create some close quarters between my tractor and the trucks parked perpendicular to where I was going in. Also close the gap between his vehicle and my trailer so he had to go around the car he's towing and close open ground where I could assess how much threat he presents. I could barely see him in the edge of the concave mirror. There was a hood over the motor then lower covers over the wheels. I mistook the edge of the hood for the edge of the vehicle and pulled the trailer over the wheel cover knocking off a light and putting scrapes on the cover. U-Haul likely just bondo the scrapes.

The next was pulled out of a dock and the door on the trailer caught the passenger side mirror on the truck next to me. I wish I could say pure carelessness, should have looked, but I looked. I saw I was going to hit the mirror, adjusted, looked like I would clear it, but caught it by a quarter inch. Tandem weren't where I intended, brakes didn't hold so bumped the dock instead of the stops. With air release didn't have to get out to set pins. Pre-dawn gloom with a grey rubber liner on the door. Caught about half that rubber liner from the divot on it. Chrome cover on the back of the mirror might have thrown off judgement. I don't really know why that happened.

The last one was up in Chicago. Customer told me to drop the trailer in a row with one open spot. Would be tight quarters except the snow mound from shoveling the lot was across from it. It was about 50 degrees but it was still frozen solid. It took 15 minutes and 3 attempts to get past that mound but needed to get the tractor in front of the trailer to go the rest of the way in. I inch forward and crunch. Wtf, get out. The main mound is about 10' tall, but there was overflow to the side. A frozen corner was sticking up about 12", just high enough to go under the bottom curve of the apron on the front. Apparently just the right pressure in the just the right place to crack the apron three ways clear up to where the opening for the tow hook. G.O.A.L. Yeah, I got out and looked, repeatedly, it was only way to get past the mound. Give up and leave is more like it. I can't help but if that isn't the reason it was the only spot open, no one could get in it. I spent another 10 minutes, got past that and a #### tree was in the way. It might be possible, but it was beyond my skill.

The one with the U-Haul is the only one where I would say regrettable but necessary. G.O.A.L. when you're afraid you're about to get beat and, perhaps, shot? No thank you. Strangely that actually seem to calm him, but I would expect the opposite effect. It wasn't intentional and I was in a panic, I was certainly filled with dread. I'm an old man, I don't heal well. The other two were routine situations, no accident should have happened. I did everything that should have been necessary to avoid an accident. That makes me wonder about driving a truck at all. G.O.A.L. certainly, but at some point you have to get back in and move.

I'm not a great driver, I well understand that, but I'm not that bad. I have over two year experience, but there's a lot of guys out there with 25-30 years so I'm still a new driver. Sitting in truck stops and docks I seem to be about average. I knew I wasn't going to be great at it in truck driving school. Some people are just naturals at it. Explain it, demonstrate it and they just do it the first time and every time. Strangely one of those guys couldn't pass the road test. I see drivers stop, go in to get a dock assignment then back from where they parked right into a dock 500' behind them. I'm a whole lot slower, but try to make up for the lack of innate skill with caution.

Now I seem to be screwed. Yeah, the place I fired from will hire me back in a year, or so they say. I contacted a local company, they said the same, check back in a year. I'll be homeless by then. I generally arrive at appointments an hour early and when not it's due to traffic jams. Going through cities I allow extra time for those traffic jams, at night I allow extra time for sleep. I allow ample following distance that allows another truck to pull in ahead of me if necessary. I anticipate merging traffic, well some make it difficult, so they can merge without problem. I slow down to let trucks pass to avoid congestion. I check those mirrors constantly. I signal well in advance of lane changes and change lanes reluctantly. I have, at least, an hour of slack beyond all planned stops so there's no point to playing indy car in a semi. I well recognize dispatch determines my miles and all the reckless driving in the world don't change that. I got 3400 miles last week without having to get in a hurry.