Accident on a new Cdl

I don't see what the big deal is. You took a wrong turn, you got stuck, and needed a tow. It's a rookie mistake made by a rookie driver. Stuff happens, especially when your new. No damage, no bodily harm, no foul. Live and learn. If you end up repeating this type of mistake in the future, then you need to re-evaluate your career choice. In the meantime use your head out there and good luck!

 

Carrier treats it as PREVENTABLE, they also incurred extra expense to pay for the tug out.

 

I don’t know how people can’t find jobs with a cdl these days. Everyone and I mean everyone I know with a valid license and cdl is working if they want to. Guys with terrible driving records,criminal convictions, job jumpers etc. go door to door and apply. Go to smaller companies and someone will hire you. Stop just filling out apps on the web.

 

Absolutely!! You can pretty well take this to the bank. It's going to be considered preventable and will stick to you for a while. If the driver is NOT fired in most cases that is where it ends. Getting the "speech" from a safety critter with the "go and sin no more" at the end. Where a driver MUST be careful is what happens IF they get fired as a direct result of the said accident. Some carriers have a tendency to go CYA and throw everything about the accident on the wall to see what sticks.

^^^^^ This is why I council drivers to be honest when it comes to that job history. If you got fired for an accident especially a recent accident as @Chinatown correctly said some carriers will not hire you anyway. Wait about 6 to 8 months and get a copy of your DAC. If a state DOT cop filed an inspection report on you make dang sure all this information is accurate.

Now, look at what @ZVar correctly posted. Take note of what I made bold. Guess who determines what disabled means in regard to how the accident is classified? It most certainly is NOT the cops in every situation. Disabled could mean running over some crap while in the ditch and ruining a tire. It could mean busting an airline. While it seems counterintuitive a carrier would shoot themselves in the foot like this, they sometimes do. Several years ago I saw this happen and the carrier was actively trying to poison the driver so badly they added an inoculas accident to their register AND later accused the driver of stealing fuel and busting seals to take product off the truck. It got nasty and later on that carrier backed off when faced with a pitbull attorney during the discovery process.


I admit I am laying it on heavy! The OP should be OK. I just don't trust some carriers today after watching some of them operate these past 3 years.

PEACE!!!!!

 

Depending on my mood!

 

Towed from the scene...unless the damage was correctable on the spot. Example, busted headlights or tires that could be repaired on the scene but towed at police or carrier's wishes to get it out of the or to a shop...OP wasn't a 'recorable tow in the FCMSA's book...

 

Recordable, non-recordable, accident or incident are all semantics. The root issue is most motor carriers will view this event as a big lapse in judgement on the OP's part and be weary of hiring them out of fear of what other bad judgements may cost them.

Being employable all comes down to what the risk managers and actuarial tables say is the likelihood of another event causing injury, death or property damage. It is all a numbers game. Oddly enough the same is true inversely, long time safe drivers without a claim are looked at as a risk by the same actuaries because of how often the average driver goes between claims. Have too clean of a record and the insurance company starts sweating although they usually don't take any actions and simply hope your good streak continues.

Best advise if you want to continue as a trucker is to grab whatever job you can get for now, get 6-8 months down the road from this event without having another issue and you will be employable at a reputable company. As said above, be honest about the past and show that you have learned from it.

 

Always pre plan, and aways check area in satellite view on your phone, and always update a proper Truck GPs, this will avoid headaches, had a trainee years ago that used a car GPS in truck, well he tried, got #### canned a few months later when it took him to downtown Newark, and rolled his tandems over a few cars.

 

Sadly enough this is true. I might also add some carriers don't like to hire drivers with 25+ years of safe driving under their belts because they demand more $$$. Some time ago I was speaking to a guy that actually teamed with my father back in the 80s. He is close to 75 today and just retired a few years ago. He and I caught up and he told me about what he did in the 90s. Back in the late 80s, the company ("WR" Grace Distribution) was based out of Duncan SC. They were hauling products out of the Cryovac plant in Duncan SC and acting as a common carrier doing backhauls. WR Grace almost went out of business about 25 or so years ago because of some huge lawsuit payouts over asbestos claims. Today they are mainly into chemicals and I think that the Cryovac plant is now called Sealed Air. When Cryovac started using another carrier GDS laid off a lot of drivers this guy was one. He worked for a small carrier in Greenville SC for a while and then tried to get on with an LTL carrier. They refused to hire him and one of the reasons stated was his age. So he just decided to retire.