23 year veteran trucker fired!

Your mot the only one in your financial shoes. Maybe if us from 50 an up would do thing different if we had a go back in time machine.
But we dont so as always we will do whatever we have to or can. You didnt come here looking for life advise from a bunch of youngsters.

So hire a company who only fight cdl tickets. I used cdl consultants in the past. That isnt a reccomendation it's just who worked for me.
It's not fair or right but due to his age, he "might" have to go the owner op/ lease op/ 1099 route.

Dont let this be the end of the world. Fight/ pay off/ bribe (thru lawyer) the ticket. Get back to work and carry on.

 

While there may not have been any serious injuries, the plethora of Personal Injury attorneys constantly advertising on all types of media, the other party may be looking for a big payday.
They will go back in his logs and other records just looking for anything that will make it look like your husband is a bad driver. If they find any small discrepancy, they will say if he had not done that he would not have been there to hurt his client. While he will not be personally sued, this action will be public knowledge and insurance companies will see it.
Were i in the same boat, i'd be looking for a new line of work that doesn't require driving a truck. Insurance companies now dictate who a company hires.

 

Your examples can be resolved with proper following distance. Stevens Transport teaches 6 seconds of following distance—in good weather conditions. This should be more than enough time to come to a complete stop if traffic were to come to a stop. I personally haven’t found any problems with this method.

This is resolved by learning how to change lanes properly, specifically not changing lanes too fast and always looking twice.

In a different thread, I talk about being involved in an accident (the only one ever on a public road and in my current 6 yrs of driving). The scenario was similar to the examples you have given. I was not held liable, not even close. The dash cam and two witnesses were sufficient to close the case very quickly. Here it is:

Comment #79
Keep your head up and level !!. Look straight ahead .. Very very important

You may be right in that mega companies judge accidents differently. From the accidents I have heard so far in my years in Stevens Transport, the accidents have to be clearly preventable. It can’t be something like a vehicle hit the back of your trailer so why didn’t you swerve to the shoulder? Or, a vehicle hit your truck while changing lanes because they didn’t see you, so why didn’t you move to another lane or the shoulder as you’re supposed to know who’s around you? I’d bring a lawyer ASAP if I found myself in that situation.

By the way, Stevens Transport reads their weekly accidents every Sunday in front of the class and their experienced drivers, particularly senior drivers, determine whether the accident was preventable or not. Drivers involved in the accident can go to the class and present their case. The accident cases do go through further analysis, of course.

 

Most everytime I see a livestock tailgating someone it because some dumb SOB in a 62 mph truck just jumped out infront of the livestock hauler that was doing between 70 and 75 mph... I wish I had saved the dash cam clip from thus last week...

It happened right infront of me. I was the 3rd of three trucks in line in the right lane going about 63 speed limit is 80 mph (I-80 western Wyoming)... I wanted to pass, check mirrors, amd here comes a bull hauler up the hammer lane way faster than I was going. So I waited, and the dumb SOB in front of me blinks once and jerks out to the left lane right in front of this bull hauler. #### lucky the bullrack was empty, cause if it wasn't he probably would have hit the stupid driver that cut him off. And guess whos fault it would have been??? Sure as hell not the bull hauler!!!!

And yes I have raised, handled, doctored, worked, and HAULED livestock. All y'all that have never hauled livestock just need to keep your #### mouths shut, cause you dont know up from down when it comes to transporting livestock. I dont see y'all door slammers trying to tell OSOW haulers how to do thier job, and hauling livestock is just as different but in other ways.

Stopping to check livestock loads is absolutely part of the job, and a very vital one at that. Most of the time its to check and make sure they are all on thier feet, and havent gone down. And animal that goes down in a trailer has a very hard time getting up. And they can be stomped to death by the other animals. If one is down the driver has to get it up... Sometimes thus can be done with a prod from outside the trailer... Other times the driver has to go inside to get the animal up. Most places I've hauler cattle to will not accept an animal that cant walk off the trailer under it own power. How many of you have the balls to get inside a cowpot full of pissed off momma cows that cant find thier babies that have just been weened from them??? Or better yet full of high dollar breeding Bulls that all think they they got to be the "Big Bull"??? BEEN THERE DONE THAT, GOT THE SCARS TO PROVE IT!!!

Pigs need to be kept cool in the summer and warm in the winter. To cool them down trailers are fitted with hoses that have mister or sprinkler nozzles, that the driver will hook to a garden hose at a truck stop or where ever he can find one for a few minutes to spray the pigs with water. Ive even seen a few that had drinking nozzles hooked to the same system. Most times a happy pig is a healthy pig... How do you tell if they are happy??? You interact with them, pet them, scratch them... And see how they respond!!!

Rant over.

 

I have no problem revising my practices, but I don’t follow people just because they have loads of experience. Sure, it’s nice, and it adds to their credibility, but at the end of the day, their arguments better be solid. Sorry, but I am not convinced that looking at your mirrors every 5-15 seconds on the freeway is helpful. In fact, I believe it may increase your liability. Worry about your liability. Let the other guys, knock themselves out. I am not going to give 10% of my view to stuff behind me when 100% of my liability really is ahead me. As I’ve mentioned several times before, a dash cam is crucial for rare accidents.

 

But they tell you how it is at Stevens.

 

So you’ve never had a trailer bearing get warm on you? Or had a brake can go bad and slowly start applying the brakes? I know it might seem like guys are harping on you, but really there’s more going on back there than just the people driving behind you. And the answers you’ve given prove you’ve only pulled a box. Go drag a flatbed and get back to me on how avoiding your mirrors works out for you.

 

I have actually said in the other thread that there are indeed exceptions such as hauling flatbed, oversize, and who knows what else. I’ve only hauled reefer trailers.

 

Stevens may appear as some sort of outlaw company, but not at all. They are very strict. They have a list of automatic terminations such as making u-turns (on public roads) and drinking alcohol when not on official home time.

 

Yeah and flatbedders pull into rest areas to check our straps and chains and tarps . u know some of us have to do work other than slam some doors ! What a concept !