First day, low bridge

I am not the most patient person my ideas are old and out of fashion
but to me if you can drive a standard you can shift it isn't a 2 stick to a 13 speed
what is this training one speaks of
you can either drive or you can't

hitting bridges is another story unrelated to shifting
it has to be driver error because of inattention to situational awareness
that is true for a rookie or a 35 year veteran

 

Sorry going to have to go with others? you should have known your route before hand, not paying attention while driving down the road was your fault, not the owners. You where trained to drive a truck, no school trains on every different type of tranny, once in a job, and you find that the tranny isn't the same as what you trained on, if you had concerns, you should have found the shift pattern, and studied how to shift the 10 speed, can't see any other fault here than yours alone

 

Since he did use the word accident in #4, it sounds like he did hit the bridge... but I hope that's not the case especially if this was his first day on the job as per thread title. However, upset newbie, if you don't get fired from this crash I hope you'll make some immediate changes in how you drive a rig. This website has a huge amount of truckers with tons of experience, and I'm sure you'll find some good folks on here willing to help you improve the essential driving skills.

Good luck to you for whatever happens on this!

 

A 10 speed. 1.2.3.4.5 click over and back 1.2.3.4.5

You can feel the gears. You're going downhill around a sharp turn without looking. You may have ran a few cars off the road, could have plowed into a house, or into a street full of people, and then we all hear about it on the news.

He's right, but training BEGINS in a car, not a truck. Most people in cars drive well enough to pass the simpleton's version of a watered down driving test designed for people with extremely short attention spans to pass. And they NEVER improve. They look at whats right in front of them, usually around 20-25 ft.
And we see this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmE92n5mEI

Hey guy, you were driving blind. Billions of people do it in cars. You CANT do it in a truck. One more thing, before you start downhill on a steep curved road, pick a gear and stick with it. Doesnt matter what transmission you had. You shouldnt have been shifting at all.

Should you be given another chance? In my line of work, a bridge hit is the end of a heavy hauler's career. They know this going into heavy haul. Should you, a rookie, be given another chance? Well, that would be a hard sell. If I were the boss and you were coming to me and told me about the transmission, I wouldnt give you another chance, because you still havent figured out what you did wrong. You have people responding on this post, not trying to be a buster, but they're trying to help you see what you do wrong behind the wheel.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmE92n5mEI

Willing to bet he was looking at his phone! maybe texting?

 

That's the problem with getting comfortable with just one piece of equipment. i.e. My CDL school. The trucks there had 8, 9, and 10 speed transmissions. You didn't get a chance to get too comfortable with one or the other, because you never knew which one you'd end up with for your next road trip. That being said, if you can drive one of those transmissions...you can drive the others. There's no learning curve associated with going from one to the other.

Yup. They cover that the first day in any CDL school. If you're trying shift going down a hill...especially a newbie...you're not going to find a gear. Once that happens, you're just going to panic (I'm assuming that's what happened here)...and possibly hit a low bridge or something else, because you're too busy playing "if you can't find 'em...grind 'em."

If you know that you need help and/or additional training...it's on you to man/woman up and tell your employer when you come on-board. If you don't voice your concerns, your employer is going to think that you're good to go. If I was your employer...that's what I'd be concerned about. Not that you has a near accident, but that you clearly knew there was a deficiency in your training that could easily lead to an accident...and you said nothing.

That's not even getting into the lack of trip/route planning issue. Mistakes and accidents happen, but I can't imagine running into a situation like this (could have easily gone much worse) just because you're too timid to point out that you need additional training.

 

I came across one of these just the other day. Driver was out of his truck already. Police officer arrived, exited his vehicle, walked up to the driver and inquired, so you get your truck stuck? The driver was a true professional, without a pause, replied "Nope, I was hauling this bridge and ran out of fuel".

Thank you Bill Engvall and his "here's your sign" routine.

In the medical field they call it triage. Women like to accuse men of not being able to multitask. I simply choose "prioritization". Let me use this question, once you hit the bridge, can you even hallucinate any investigator asking..........."what gear were you in"?

You asked for input on your reaction. We ALL have undesirable outcomes. The only reaction I'd hope is you learned and will alter your actions so as not to repeat the undesirable outcome. If not you arrive at the classic definition of insanity.

I'm a relatively new "driver", my two cents though, drive a ten speed just like an 8 and you'll be fine.

 

Did you actually cause any damage to the truck??

 

Noooo. People in cars only look 20-25 ft ahead. At that distance, by the time you see it, you cant avoid it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NW0Nne0zrw


The problem with most rookie drivers is that they were never good at driving a car. The whole, scanning far down the road, being able to use your mirrors and stuff you have to be able to do in a truck, should have been second nature while you were driving a car.

 

It could have been a lot worse hadn't you been stopped before hitting that low bridge.It's your job as a trk driver to pay attention to everything.We all make mistakes and learn from them.There's no reason to be mad,it was your fault.I do think you should get retrained.Its your company's call whether you should get fired or not.As long as no damage and you give your more sincerest apology you may get a second chance.But with your second dose of training,do not go solo till you can shift,read signs and pay attention to your surroundings all together.