Don't Train With SWIFT!!!!!!!

Sorry, but its your fault. U have to actually back the truck up sometime to learn. Swift is an outstanding company. I know there are a lot of haters bc they are a mega, but if you compare them to all the other companies out there, they are very good. They do let people be trainers to early but there are a lot of experienced good ones as well. Ultimately you are in control when you are behind the wheel. Take some responsibility for yourself.

 

Had it not been for a ding-bat trainer the OP wouldn't have attempted the maneuver to begin with.

A family of four goes camping for vacation. There's the dad, the mom, a teenage son and another, much younger son who had never experienced camping before.
Dad and mom decide to take a short hike, leaving the older son in charge of his younger brother until they get back. During the parents absence, big brother instructs his younger brother to fetch the frying pan that was left in the campfire. Eager to learn how to be a camper from those with experience, the youngster follows his big brother's instructions. Upon grabbing the very hot frying pan from the fire, the youngster cries out in pain as the pan handle severely burns the palm of his hand. Confused and frightened, the youngster looks to his big brother for an explanation. What did I do wrong?, the youngster asks.

The older brother is quick to respond with an answer, ---
"You stupid little moron! You must be an idiot! Everybody knows better than to grab a hot pan from the fire. I oughta kick your buttox for makin' me look bad. When dad gets back you better fess up and tell him it was all your fault, not mine. You were stupid enough to do what I asked you to do. How was I supposed to know that you're too dumb to know better"?

How do y'all suppose dad and mom would react when they're informed of the mishap and how it came to happen?

Stupid is as stupid does.
Quote: Forrest Gump's mother.

​

When one accepts the position of driver trainer, mentor, whatever, --- there are a lot of responsibilities and duties that go along with the job. A driver trainer/mentor, is entrusted with the safety and well being of their trainee as well as the same for the general motoring public who are in the vicinity of the Big truck no matter which of them is holding the steering wheel.

Two elements vitally important for a trainee to have in regards to their trainer/mentor;
1. Confidence
2. Trust
Remove either of the two and the quality of the training is tremendously diminished. It is absolutely imperative that a trainer/mentor earns and maintains the trust of their trainee and vice versa. Without trust there is no confidence. As the effect ripples, respect sinks to resentment. Next stop, anger is unloaded. An atmosphere like that doesn't promote safety. Quite the opposite. It greatly increases the ingredients known to contribute to actions detrimental to the safe operation of the vehicle, --- in this case, a Big truck.

For that reason, any Big truck truckin' company that promotes a ding-bat to the position of driver trainer/mentor should be held accountable for any bone-headed driver trainer/mentor with a year of experience on a power trip, who pushes their trainee beyond their comfort zone, --- possibly expecting the trainee to fail, creating an opportunity for the trainer/mentor to brag about their superior abilities, and/or belittle their trainee for not measuring up to the trainer/mentor's expectations.
A recipe for disaster.

In the case of Theewukid, ..... was he at fault in his described incident?
Yes.
His fault was trusting an inexperienced ding-bat with an inflated ego.

How 'bout the ding-bat trainer entrusted to promote safety as part of the instruction process?
Instructing a trainee to depend on the trainer/mentor to watch out for objects about to be hit and to warn the trainee well enough in advance to avoid a collision is admiral. When a trainee collides with another object during that time, obviously the trainer/mentor dropped the ball and failed to perform his duties properly, thereby at least contributing to the mishap, if not causing it.

If Theewukid was terminated as a result of hitting an object while his trainer/mentor was watching, ---
so too, should the ding-bat trainer/mentor be terminated with a notation included on his DAC report describing the incident that resulted due to the trainer/mentor's actions, or lack thereof, thereby excluding him from any consideration of ever being allowed to train or mentor again.
Shame on him.

A responsible trainer/mentor who takes the job as seriously as it should be would not have allowed an incident like what is described by Theewukid to occur. It's imperative that a trainee be able to trust a trainer/mentor. A trainer/mentor has an obligation to instill and maintain trust at all times. What happened goes far beyond just hitting an object while backing. When the ding-bat failed miserably in that regard, he also affected the life of his trainee negatively.
That is inexcusable.

That's my opinion. ​

 

Yeah, I kinda agree. I'm not a young kid, but I am a new driver, and I can understand the OP expected the trainer to assist him in preventing something like this from happening. Your trainer gives you a million and one pieces of information, he advises you constantly, corrects you, helps you. In the training phase you subconsciously feel that if there is something about to go wrong, he will correct you. Of course, the trainer is only human, and sounds like some trainers are not really qualified for this role. When I was training for my CDL, I made sure I told my trainer I expected him to alert me if something bad was about to happen. As a rookie, a bad situation can be developing and you just won't know it until it is too late.

 

The op had an accident and from Swift,but that doesn't mean they're training is the worst of all the training.Every starter company you're going to get bad and good trainers.Hopefully the op takes all the advice on this thread with him to his next company.

 

Luckily for me backing just comes naturally to me and never needed help doing it.

#1 rule for me is to only trust yourself when backing because its your a.s.s. if you hit something.
I have had countless drivers try to help me back into a spot even though I never asked for helped. I just smile and say thank you, and ignore what there saying. "Get Out And Look" as much as you need too wether its 2 times or 20 times. Take your time and go at your pace. Practice as much as possible.
If your backing and feel you need to start over, then start over. Don't listen to those trainers who cant back up themselves.

 

The problem as I see it is not really swift but the traineer. It might be swift too, depending on how they train thier trainers but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

You people are pretty harsh. If the OP was a "TRAINEE" how is it that a company puts a trainer in charge who does not tell the trainee that he should GOAL? I tell every trainer I ever hire that YOU (the trainer) are responsible for teaching procedure to that trainee. If you do not tell him "get out and look every time" in fact you tell your trainee "just watch my hand signals, I'll guide you", you have trained that rookie to NOT get out and look.
That appears to be what happened here. I would reprimand that trainer.
Another issue would be the fact that the rookie did not have the confidence to execute the maneuver, I encourage that. If a driver says "I don't think I'm good enough yet to do that", why force them to try? These guys are already sick to their stomach from worrying all day, why force them into situations that will only make them feel like a failure? The reason we put them on the road with a trainer is because we know they can't do everything yet. Let them ease into it at their own pace, if that pace takes too long to develop, you may have to let them go eventually, but forcing them to do things they already told you they are not capable of is a poor training regiment.

 

How about getting out and looking and taking responsibility?

 

That one guy that posted a couple posts above mine hit it in on the head. You explained it a little better. As I said earlier, the OP needs to get out and get an understanding of where the trailer is. You can't do that if you don't GOAL.

Side note, I wonder if there is more to the story. Did the trainer give bad hand signals? Did the trainee not hear him shouting? Did the OP say "I got this bro, *booooooom*" OR...I'm just trying to picture this happening. All I see is the OP backing into a trailer, the trainer continuing to give him a hand signal to come back, all while the drive tires on the tractor are spinning...

I feel you OP, there is blame to go all the way around.